Tempest and Titania, Storm Siblings
by blueper
Summary: The war was over. No longer was he hunted down for the power he held at bay. Finally Naruto could live a relatively normal life without surprises. Yet it's not as great as it sounds. He didn't want things to get boring but not even he could have predicted how a routine mission would end so strangely. Naruto/Ultear eventually. Erza and Naruto will be like siblings. M for language
1. Chapter 1

A/N starts off slow, but I want to show Naruto as a shinobi in earthland not a mage. So this is to explain why he has shinobi skills. Some background info, I assume shippuden events took place over the time period of one year, as such Naruto was 17 at war's end and was rewarded with medals and jutsu for being a hero. Sasuke in helping to bring down Madara was not killed immediately and vouched for as a reliable comrade by Naruto himself. Sasuke decided to honor Itachi's wishes finally and returned with Naruto to Konoha. Now this won't delve too deep into the shinobi world but I wanted to clear up some questions before they were asked since I understand it can be a bit confusing.

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail, I only wiish I did.

"Normal speech"

'_inner speech/thoughts'_

**"jutsu"**

**'Kurama/Kyuubi speech'**

**Chapter 1**

Sharp blue eyes assessed his surroundings his muscles taut and absolutely still so as not to give away his position. The experienced gaze of his partner's sharingan analyzing every and all details that could help or hinder their mission only further comforting him in its reliance. The feared duo of Uzumaki and Uchiha was once again dispatched to deal with another high rank missing nin.

Having fully checked out the clearing in one of the forests on the edge of Fire Country's borders, Naruto decided to break the self imposed radio silence.

"Taka I can't see anything from here. I'm going in, give me five minutes then cut around behind their camp while I check to see if they're actually here or not." Naruto, or Kuma as he is known with his mask on, aged 22 jounin of Konohagakure no Sato, spoke to his best friend and partner Sasuke code named Taka.

"Understood, I'll radio if I see them come by me." Taka replied before taking off.

Even though it'd been five years since the end of the 4th shinobi world war, defectors and other missing-nin seemed to be in abundance for the hidden villages to clean up after. Five years since the both of them decided to team up and join ANBU, one to prove his loyalty to Konoha or really Konoha's next Hokage. The other to gain and perfect the necessary skills he needed to complement his raw power.

Still he knew this was going to be one of his last missions, one of the last times he'd be able to don the prestigious ANBU mask and uniform. One of the last times he and his friend Sasuke would be out in the field completing missions instead of stuck behind a desk doing paperwork.

Naruto sighed even as he inwardly cringed at remembering his upcoming promotion. Oh how he dreaded the day. Not because he didn't want a promotion, he liked having extra money after all. No, he just didn't want _this_ particular promotion. Sasuke because of his general skill level and mission completion rate would be promoted as one of three ANBU Commanders. Naruto on the other hand would be eased into the position of Hokage by shadowing Tsunade for a few months and finally taking office officially.

When he was younger he'd dreamt of the day he would enter the spotlight and be Hokage. Now it just meant he'd finally have to stop hiding from the very village he swore to protect. They didn't hate him anymore, not since he defeated Pein, but he still hadn't received the acknowledgment he craved from his village. He used to think that being Hokage meant people would finally see him as Naruto the person not Naruto the Demon Fox child. The opposite had happened.

Where before he used to receive glares and scorn now he received awed looks and worship. They knew him as War Hero Naruto, better than demon brat, but still not the person he wanted to be seen as. Now everyone expected him to solve all their problems all the time. Make new alliances, and keep away evil, all while signing autographs and making sure everyone was always happy. He was essentially a poster boy and recruiter for the shinobi career, basically he viewed himself as a fake.

Still, he would need to reminisce on his life at a later date. For now, there was a mission to complete, so he decided to enter the camp warily. Careful not to make much noise and to stick to the shadows even under this moonless night, Naruto headed straight to the enemy nin's supplies. He would need to destroy them in order to more easily overpower them later on.

Unfortunately he never reached his destination as a powerful hand suddenly shot out from underground and tightened around his neck suffocating him. Managing to get a grip on the wrist and twist the arm he freed himself and back flipped away from his assailant. Taking a measured look at him now, he instantly recognized him as one of the last remnants of ROOT leftover after Danzo's fall.

"If it isn't the jinchuuriki of the Leaf. I will kill you here and then head after your partner in order to complete our vengeance for Danzo-sama." the nameless ROOT operative stated in a half crazed tone of voice.

Naruto instantly knew that this man was dangerous if he so easily recognized him as well as knew Sasuke was here too. That lead him to only one conclusion. There remained a leak in Konoha's security that allowed classified information to leave the village. He would have to do everything possible to capture this man alive. Knowing who the leak was would solve many problems and stop future attacks on Konoha.

Before he could speak up and try to apprehend this shinobi, Sasuke's voice lashed out in the darkness cutting through his plans. **"Chidori Eiso" **And a blade made of pure lightning pierced the ROOT shinobi through the chest effectively ending another monologue before it started.

"So my intel was right, and the traitorous Uchiha was here as well." He smirked with a drop of blood rolling from his mouth before continuing. "Too bad you're both going to die today." He then purposefully and carefully started heading straight for Naruto disentangling himself painfully from the spear of lightning.

He instantly whipped around and threw a handful of kunai with explosive tags on them in Sasukes direction. As soon as he they left however he dropped to his knees in pain and coughed up even more blood. Sasuke having escaped the explosions decided to try and get some information from him before attacking once more. A shinobi of his caliber that had evaded hunter-nin for years was not to be taken lightly after all.

"Who else is here. And where did you buy the classified information about our identities. If you truly loved Konoha as you claim you will cooperate before we are forced to eliminate you." Sasuke growled out from where he was sitting on the tree branch out of any kunais range.

"I'm alone, I alone carry the will and dreams of Danzo-sama. When we meet again he will reward me for being his most faithful follower." Cackling madly after this proclamation he proceeded to turn his back on Sasuke and point a finger in Naruto's direction.

"If you had been the proper weapon as you were destined Konoha would be great once more. If nothing else I will take you down with me!" He shouted out and purposefully started walking in Naruto's direction.

As he approached Naruto who was watching him warily, he started to remove his armored vest and started laughing as seals started appearing on his body seemingly leaking ink.

Sasuke immediately recognized the seal array as he had encountered it once before and seen its devastating power. "Kuma! What are you standing there for. Move out of the way. That's the Reverse Tetragram Sealing Kinjutsu. If he captures you in its range it'll kill take you down with him!"

Having yelled out his warning Sasuke immediately leapt away and further into the trees to distance himself from the suicidal shinobi. Naruto on the other hand appeared frozen and hadn't moved an inch.

"Move will you! Hurry you have only a few seconds before its too late!" Sasuke cried out one more time hoping to convey how serious this was.

"Its no use Uchiha bastard. You see, for all your renowned power, the jinchuuriki is as arrogant as any other. He allowed me to get too close to him and I put a cursed seal on him that immobilizes him until I say so. Hahahaha hahaha. Come Uchiha, try and get to him before he dies. Join him in the afterlife where you shall both face the wrath of Danzo-sama!" The ROOT shinobi informed the duo with no small amount of pleasure in his voice.

_'Damn it Naruto, just break out of it! I used Susanoo you should be able to use Kyuubi's chakra. Damn it, what are you waiting for? Something must be wrong. He must somehow be blocked from using its power. There's only one thing to do. I have to get you myself and try and use Kamui to move us out of there even if I'm not sure I can copy a mangekyou sharingan's ability like Madara could'_ thought Sasuke as he rushed forward to try and reach Naruto before the crazed missing-nin.

Naruto could only watch wide eyed as Sasuke decided to head immediately towards him as he finally broke free from the seal.

As soon as Sasuke settled next to him with the man from ROOT no more than five feet away Naruto reached into his pouch for the special kunai he'd been working on since joining ANBU. He knew he only had one shot at this as even now he sensed the Reverse Tetragram seal activating and heading their way. He immediately threw the tri-pronged kunai as hard as he could and went through the five hand seals required to activate it. '_Dragon-Horse-Snake-Ram-Boar. Hiraishin!' _All he recalled was grabbing onto Sasuke as he saw a pitch black orb of energy erupt from the chest of the ROOT operative.

Sasuke as soon as he touched down next to Naruto immediately grabbed onto his shoulder and barely noticed him throwing a kunai into the trees. As he felt Naruto's hand grasp his shoulder in return, and he picked up on the orb of death heading his way, he immediately cried out **Kamui**. Unbeknownst to him he activated his undeveloped Jikukan jutsu at exactly the same time as Naruto's equally untrained Jikukan jutsu was triggered. All he recalled was the unrestrained power of the cursed seal exploding from the missing-nins chest and engulfing them both before he felt weightless and euphoric. This feeling lasting about half a second before both ANBU operatives, friends, and untrained Jikukan jutsu users were assaulted with immeasurable pain that felt as if their very bodies were being ripped apart. Pain worse than any he'd ever felt, his very being cried out in agony as it seemed to be dissolved peace by peace while hurtling through space.

As the feeling of hurling through the air carried on Naruto felt his grip on Sasuke's shoulder slacken until he finally was forced to let go. Feeling the distance between the two inexplicably increase Naruto panicked and called out to the only person that might be able to help. Almost immediately the voice of his life long tenant spoke up from what seemed like a disturbed sleep.

**'What is it brat? I thought you were on a mission right now why are you hurling through the air? And why in the nine levels of hell are you falling apart brat! I'll do what I can but how the hell could you let yourself be hit by anything that could cause this much destruction.' **Kurama rumbled a bit irritatedly.

Even though his jailor seemed to be in a perilous situation Kurama seemed to be in a deceptively calm mood. **_'Kid took a lot of damage on this one. This is gonna hurt him a bit, bah if he didn't want pain he should have avoided the stupid attack. Nothing much I can do except flood him with my chakra and hope I can heal and rebuild him faster than he's being torn apart'_**

"Aah! Lots of pain. Help. Long story short. Used Hiraishin and Sasuke used Kamui to escape from a double suicide jutsu on our last mission. But since Hiraishing is supposed to be instantaneous I don't know whats going on right now and I need you- oof!" Naruto let out before he viciously crashed onto a pile of rocks face down. Trying to regain his composure Naruto slowly and painfully lifted himself from the boulder he was lying on and peered confusedly at what was in front of him.

As he stared in wonder at waves of water crashing upon the shore of what he deemed to be an island he couldn't help but drop his jaw in shock. Last he checked he was in a forest, no where near the sea. And he was supposed to flash over to the kunai he threw, not to Sea country or Water country. The shock, the pain, the new environment it all finally got to him. Suddenly he no longer knew if what he was hearing was the roar of the ocean or the onset of a severe concussion, darkness engulfed him and his body once again crashed down to the floor and he knew no more.

* * *

T n T

* * *

**'Brat. Brat. Kit. Wake up. Wake up brat. WAKE THE HELL UP YOU LAZY PUNY PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR MY JAILOR! WAKE UP THIS INSTANT OR I SWEAR I'LL STOP YOU FROM EVER HAVING CHILDREN BEFORE YOU'RE 60!'**

Blue eyes snapped open and Naruto shot up from his position on the floor of what looked to be a jail cell, greatly surprising the lean old man with long white hair and eyebrows by his side. Taking a second to quickly assess his surroundings Naruto realized this old man must have been taking care of his wounds as he had bandages wrapped around his arms, head and chest.

_'Kurama what happened? Where am I?' _Naruto asked since he clearly remembered being in a forest, then by the sea and now he was apparently captured.

**'How the hell should I know brat? I've been trying to wake you for the last few hours. Even though I don't know where you are you should know how much damage you took. You're not going to like this.' **Kurama tried explaining to Naruto.

_'What do you mean? And where's Sasuke? Did I get captured or something, it doesn't make sense though. Why would they treat my wounds if I did?' _Naruto was looking around frantically for his friend and growing more confused by the second.

**'Don't know where the Uchiha is, but he certainly wasn't around when you woke me the first time. I can tell you that much. I didn't sense his unique chakra anywhere. As for the bad news. Well, remember how you always were made fun of for being a short brat with a loud mouth?' **receiving a mental nod from Naruto, Kurama decided to continue

**'It seems that you took so much damage from whatever hit you that I had to basically rebuild your entire body. For some inexplicable reason, instead of healing you in your current age you now look like the annoying loudmouth that you used to be when we first met.'**

"What! You mean I'm a kid again!" Naruto froze after his outburst .

"Noooo, my voice is childish again! And why the hell am I so short. I wasn't this short before! Damn you Kurama you did this on purpose I know you did you annoying furball! Now my clothes don't even fit anymore." After ranting and raving for a few minutes Naruto finally calmed down and looked over at the old man that was staring at him in slight confusion and as if he were looking at a crazy person.

Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly Naruto decided to ask him some questions to figure out where he was. "Aha, sorry about that ji-san. But I don't know how I got here and I tend to talk to myself when caught off guard. Do you know where we are? I think I hit my head pretty hard and I don't remember ever getting here."

"Ah I see, you were very injured last night when the guards brought you in. You were covered in blood and they must have thrown any clothes they could find on you since they're too big for you. Well to answer your questions, we're on a small island off the shores of the Akane resort. You must have been captured the same as the rest of us by the dark magic cult attempting to build the R-System to revive the dark wizard Zeref. My name is Rob and I decided to look after you last night since all the kids seem to have been taken away to a different cell last night." The now named old man Rob told him as Naruto listened intently hoping to figure out where he was.

Nothing that he heard made sense though. Where the hell was the Akane resort? And yeah jutsu were pretty cool and powerful but the only cult he knew of was the now extinct cult of Jashin and they didn't think it was magic. Zeref was a name he'd never heard of before but he definitely didn't like the sound of a system that could bring back the dead. It sounded worse and even more evil than that damned Edo Tensei jutsu Orochimaru used to love so much.

"I can see you don't understand everything that's happened to you child. Unfortunately, what I'm trying to say is that you are now a slave just like everyone else here, forced to help in building the Tower of Heaven. Rest for now though, the guards want this place built as fast as possible even if you have injuries they'll be sure to try and make you work." Rob spoke to him in a kindly manner whilst trying all the while to get him to lie down.

Seeing his determined look, Naruto sighed and decided to do as he said. He lay down on the ground again and decided to talk to Kurama once more. _'Hey Kurama did you get all that? What do we do now.'_

**'Sleep idiot. You still don't know where you are but I'm sure you can escape from this island given enough time. R-System sounds dangerous so if need be we can always entertain ourselves by going full bijuu mode and blowing the island sky high. Everything else can wait till you're back on the main land and can get your hands on a map.' **

_'I guess you're right. I am still pretty tired. I'll just take a quick nap and figure things out tomorrow. Wake me up if something happens' _A snort from Kurama caused him to raise an eyebrow in question.

**'I told you I basically rebuilt your pathetic and scrawny hide. I'm even more tired than you from using so much chakra. I'm not your alarm clock. Try not to get killed in the next few hours, actually knowing you, just pipe down and keep quiet while I sleep to regain some strength before you get yourself caught up in something we'll both regret.'**

Only managing to chuckle in agreement Naruto decided Kurama deserved his rest and he'd let him sleep for a while. He then put his head down, smiled gratefully at Rob and closed his eyes to enter into the world of dreams he deserved after such a long day.

* * *

T n T

* * *

Great plumes of smoke curled up and around the Tower of Heaven. Heavy explosions went off in countless locations as the slaves of the tower revolted and tried to overthrow the black cult. This was the world Naruto awoke to as he rose groggily from his sleep. Looking around and finding no sign of Rob, but the door wide open, he decided to go and find out what was going on.

As he climbed the stairs of where he was held he ascended to what he believed was the ground floor and could barely believe his eyes. All around him there was a massive fight going on. It seemed Rob was right and this was a tower where slaves worked to build something. But a revolt had broken out. Uniformed guards it seemed were losing ground to all the slaves that were fighting against them. Explosions were going off from what he could only assume were more guards even if they were floating and shooting powerful flames out from their mouths. As he looked around trying to find the one person that he knew he finally spotted him in front of a cowering girl in the line of fire from well over twenty of those guards.

Naruto's eyes widened in amazement as he saw old man Rob seemingly deflect the powerful blasts hurled his way from those floating guards. He then proceeded to return fire with what he could only guess was a wordless and sign-less Katon jutsu. Naruto quickly darted forward and grabbed Rob before he fell over whilst creating a clone to grab the red headed girl and evade the rocks falling from the ceiling after Rob's attacks.

"What are you doing here kid! I may not look it but I am still a mage. Those soldiers are headed our way. If I must I will give my life to protect these children you see around you. Now run while I hold them off. Run and take little Erza with you. Do not worry about me. I will protect everyone, up until I can not stand anymore." Rob exclaimed as he once again stood in front of Erza and Naruto spreading his arms out wide hoping to deflect the blasts from the remaining guards. What he heard and saw next surprised him more than anything he'd seen in his last few years as a slave.

"**Doton: Doryuuheki" **a massive wall of earth adorned with toads faces erupted from the ground in front of Rob and took the full force of the weapons blasts from the guards. After, the young blonde boy he'd treated last night rushed forward ran up the wall and landed on top to cry out **"Doton: Dosekiryu"** after which the very wall broke down and transformed into a dragon made of stone before launching itself in pursuit of the now fleeing guards.

"So you're a mage too young man." Panting as he had not used magic in a very long time Rob decided to check over Erza who was staring wide eyed at Naruto.

"Hm? No I'm a jounin of Konoha. Names Naruto. I can see that a revolt is taking place right now, so that's good. Now to make a door big enough for us all to walk out of here in peace." Naruto murmured as a slightly manic grin crossed his face. It was time to blow things up, which is what he excelled at, and use that jutsu Temari had taught him not too long ago. Quickly going through the hand signs he then clapped his hands together and yelled out **"Futon: Kakeami" **and from his hands erupted a net made of wind which proceeded to carve a massive door straight out of the wall of the tower.

"What strange magic you use Naruto. But right now, we must get these kids out of here and onto the boats outside so we can escape." Rob said to him as he was done checking to see if Erza was hurt.

"No wait jii-chan. Jellal. We have to save Jellal. We can't leave without him." Erza quickly sprang up and took off to look for Jellal after remembering who it was that inspired her to lead this rebellion.

"Naruto, please go after her. I am glad she won't see this, but I'm dying. I used up a lot of magic even though I haven't used any in many years. For a wizard, magic would usually tire them out, but for me it is my very life force and I don't have much time. But even knowing you for only a short while I can see you're a good and strong person. So please, promise me to look after her. Look after Erza, she of all people has suffered very much here. Please protect her." Rob begged Naruto as he propped himself into a sitting position while trying to emphasize how serious the situation was.

"I'll get her out of here ji-san. That's a promise. And I never go back on my promises. Rest now ji-san. I'll create some clones to help lead out the rest of the people and help Erza out. I'll only leave your side if someone needs me. **Tajuu Kage Bunshin"** Over a hundred clones popped into existence and instantly took off to herd the rest of the prisoners on the island to the boats outside while one more took off to locate Erza.

Watching the kind old man in front of him die from what he assumed was chakra exhaustion since thats what he seemed to explain it as, Naruto couldn't help but feel sadness at his departure. This man had helped him last night and then decided to risk and give up his life to protect the young girl from all those guards coming after her. He threw his life in the line of fire not knowing that Naruto would help him along the way. What he had said, that he would protect those around him until he couldn't stand anymore was awfully similar to his own nindo to protect those precious to him.

After receiving memories from his clones that the majority of people were now on ships and others were stocking them he decided to look for Erza himself. Not wanting to just leave him here, Naruto pulled out one of the sealing scrolls used to transport bodies to confirm a kill from his overly large vest. He then sealed Rob into the scroll in order to buy himself enough time to find him a decent final resting ground.

A loud explosion caught his attention and as he looked up he saw Erza falling to the ground having crashed straight through the wall. He quickly took off and used **shunshin** to catch her and cradle her fall before she hit the ground. He looked up to see who or what had done this to her only to watch as a blue haired boy pointed his hand at his clone standing behind him and a bright purple circle erupt underneath his feet. Before Naruto could figure out what was going on his clone went up in smoke having somehow been dispelled despite not being touched.

'_Must be some sort of seal. Not one I've ever seen before though. Who is this guy and why'd he attack Erza and my clone. Is this the Jellal guy Erza was looking for?' _Naruto wondered as he reviewed the memories of his clone tracking, and listening in to Erza talking to this guy.

What he hadn't noticed however was that Erza was looking on in shock and horror at the place where his clone had gone up in smoke. She had already seen Jellal do this upstairs to one of the guards that had tortured them. But this new blonde guy, Naruto, he hadn't done anything evil to either of them. So why did Jellal kill him? Why?

Suddenly Naruto felt a massive amount of pressure bear down on him. Looking around he noticed it came from Erza who had somehow gotten a glowing circle of her own to erupt under her feet. Yelling she released all her pent up power and managed to take control of all the weapons and tools around the tower making them float in the air.

_'What kind of power is this?' _Naruto asked himself in shock. _'Is this some sort of bloodline? How is she controlling all of this and why did it manifest now of all times? Doesn't matter. I promised to protect her. If she can't control her power for now since she's apparently attacking her friend Jellal, I'll knock her out and help her control it later. Sorry Erza-chan but this is for your own good' _

Having decided on his plan of action Naruto quickly stepped up behind Erza went through a few more hand signs and whispered **"Ninpo: Tanuki Neiri" **before laying a hand on her shoulder and catching her as she fell.

As he was setting her down gently Jellal decided to call out to him with a sadistic smile on his face. "Take her from this island. Take her far away, I don't need her. As a reward for getting rid of the nuisances that controlled this place I grant her her fleeting 'freedom'. But in exchange for this freedom, you won't speak of this island or its purpose to anyone from the government again. Otherwise, I'll just destroy this place and everything on it and restart somewhere else."

"Shut up. I'm going to take her with me when I leave this place. And if I want to tell someone about this place I will. Theres nothing you can do to stop me. As a matter of fact I'll destroy this place for you. I would never allow such an abomination to exist anyways." A quick clone was created to pick Erza up and take her to a safe location. Following that, Naruto started a long series of hand seals building his chakra for a massive jutsu."

**'Careful brat. You don't want to blow up all the people you just saved do you. If you unleash that jutsu you could easily overpower it and endanger everyone else here even the girl you promised to save. Just destroy all the tools, equipment and machines necessary to help this place run.' **Kurama interjected before Naruto could blow everything sky high.

Sighing as he knew his tenant was right, Naruto decided to aim his jutsu at all the mentioned targets.

"**Katon: Hibashiri" **A ring of fire erupted around the tower and around a surprised Jellal.

Following up on Kurama's plan to destroy everything usable for building, Naruto unleashed one more jutsu to enhance the flames.

**"Doton:**** Doryuu Taiga" **Kneeling he poured all his chakra into the earth and watched as it transformed into a river of mud that ran all the way down to the holding cells he'd awoken in before it caught on fire too acting as if it were a river of tar. If anyone tried to rebuild the tower now, they would have to start from the ground up and waste precious resources as well as time to even pick up where they left off.

"You think this will stop me! I'll bring back Zeref. Nothing can stop me. Even if it takes me years to start again. Zeref will be reborn by my hand." Jellal crowed out, as he started to laugh madly.

Naruto could do nothing but walk away. He knew Jellal wouldn't die from this fire. But there was something off about that boy. Something he'd learned from his long years of shinobi life though, you have to pick your battles. He might help Jellal someday, especially if he was important to Erza and probably Rob ji-san.

For now though, he'd have to get everyone out of the tower. That was a priority and dealing with the crazed child would come later.

**'Where to now Naruto? I'm still a bit tired so don't expect to be able to just mooch off my greatness and chakra to help you find a way back home.'**

_'Nice of you to check in furball. I was thinking that I'd get Erza-chan here to a safe place. Maybe a relative or a nearby village or something. From there I'd find out where I am and then make a plan to head home.'_

**'Good plan brat. You might want to check on chibi-Kushina before we leave here though. I've never sensed anything like that strange power she used earlier. You never know if it's all good for her. Doubt its cursed power like that Juugo character but it wouldn't hurt to check'**

_'Chibi-Kushina? Whats that mean?'_

**'For someone hailed as a prodigy in the shinobi field you sure are dumb aren't you brat. That little Erza girl you've decided to protect looks a lot like your mother did at her age. I should know, I was sealed into her at around that age if you recall. Doubt she's an Uzumaki though, she doesn't feel like you or my previous containers. Still the resemblance is uncanny.'**

_'You know now that you mention it. She does look a lot like kaa-san. That's kinda funny, she could be like the long lost little sister I never had. Me taking after tou-san and her after kaa-san. You're right though I'll check on her as soon as we get on a boat and leave this place. I want to get her as far away from here as possible.'_

"Hey boss. I just put mini kaa-san into that boat on the far end of the docks. Everythings all set to go so just shove off when you're ready. See ya" His clone having reported in decided to disperse after pointing out which boat to go to.

**'Haha see brat. Even your copies are smarter than you. Seems like your clone technique doesn't make flimsy copies of you, it makes more intelligent versions instead.' **Kurama pointed out before he started laughing even harder.

A tic mark developed over his eye and Naruto decided to ignore his annoying tenant in favor of checking up and looking Erza over for injuries. An hour into their voyage out at see Naruto confirmed that the only thing wrong with her that a few nights of rest and some food wouldn't fix was that right eye she was missing.

He had an idea on how to fix it, since he knew no iryu-nin jutsu could regrow an eye save for maybe Tsunade-baachans secret jutsu, but he figured it'd probably be painful for him and downright impossible without Kurama's help. So having decided on his course of action he settled back and got comfortable as he prepared to talk Kurama into helping him.

_'Kurama, you said that you basically reconstructed my body before we got to that island right?'_

**'No'**

_'What do you mean no, those were your exact words!'_

**'I mean no, I won't help you carry out this stupid plan you're going to try and talk me into. You don't seem to realize how tired I am of your stupid plans. I get nothing out of this you know. You've spent five years working out your father's pride and joy. We may get along better than we used to now but no one likes to be caged. We're partners, Naruto, you may not do much for me anymore but that doesn't mean I'm going to sit back and let you mutilate yourself.'**

_'…. You're absolutely right'_

**'Course I am, I'm never wrong brat. Glad to see you finally agree with me. Now what are you going to do to help chibi-Kushina?'**

_'I'll make you a deal Kurama. It took me five years just to begin to experiment with my fathers jutsu. Which is one of the highest forms of sealing out there. From here on out, apart from getting better at using Hiraishin, the only thing I'll work on is getting you free without it killing me. How's that sound? The catch of course is that you have to help me with my situation here and now.'_

**'Tch. I'd be a fool to pass up on a chance of freedom, even if we can only make it temporary. Fine I'll help you with this. Make a clone though to do the operation, your clones tend to have better control than you do and you'll need to be paralyzed since this will be painful and I can't have you thrashing around while working. Just answer one question for me before we do this.'**

_'Sure what question is it?'_

**'This isn't one of your so called 'precious' people. Nor is she a client or some other duty bound person you've sworn to help. So why go through all the trouble to help this girl?' **

Kurama couldn't help but ask this question, as even though he knew Naruto fairly well and knew about his promises, even he couldn't understand why he'd go this far for this girl. His promise to protect her only took him as far as getting this girl to a safe place without any harm falling on her. Naruto didn't have to take his promise this far. It was even farther than his promise to bring back Sasuke, since then he'd even said he would go as far as breaking every bone in his body and dragging him back to Konoha if need be.

_'Well. It's kind of embarassing. But since you're helping me. I don't really know why Kurama. I just feel this need to help her and protect her anyway I can. If she needs an eye, and I can provide it, I'll help her. I almost feel as if she's my real long lost sister. I look at her and see my kaa-san and can't help but want to make her happy.'_

**'I see. Its stupid in my opinion brat, but I do see. Keep in mind Naruto. Just because I had the power to help this time doesn't mean I will forever. As it stands I may not be able to help you again with ANY chakra for at least a few months, maybe a year. I did it the first time so you wouldn't die. This time its because you find it important to you to help this girl. There won't be a next time understand? Now then lets get started.'**

_'Alright! Thanks Kurama you won't regret this. It's a good thing I learned the Chakra no mesu and Shosen jutsu from Tsunade-baachan and Sakura-chan in case Sasuke ever died.'_

Naruto immediately made two shadow clones. One to hold him down and use a paralysis jutsu on him while the other performed the surgery. With any luck, by the time they got to shore, Naruto would have successfully transplanted an eye into Erza while Kurama would have regrown that same eye in his head so he wouldn't walk around like Kakashi-sensei all the time.

* * *

T n T

* * *

Erza woke up to find herself lying on her back on what appeared to be a boat and staring up at a clear star filled sky.

"Naruto!" She screamed out before sitting up abruptly and looking around wildly.

After taking a look around and seeing she was on a beach somewhere she started to tear up in her lone uncovered eye. She'd failed to protect him. Just like Rob ji-chan had protected her. Now they must be far from the Tower of Heaven and she'd never see either one of them or Jellal again.

"Yes?" Naruto's head popped up from the side of the boat. "Why are you crying Erza-chan, you should be happy that you're nowhere near that tower anymore. Besides I caught some fi-oof" Naruto was cut off and found himself on his back with a crying little girl hugging him for dear life. Naruto couldn't help but be overly confused at what was happening. Sitting up he decided to hug Erza back and rub her back while trying to calm her down and figure out why she was crying.

After Naruto explained about Rob's last wishes, and Erza about why she was so happy to see him they settled down a bit now that their ordeal was over. After they ate their meal of grilled fish Naruto finally asked Erza where she wanted to go.

Once he found out that she had no more real family that familiar urge to want to do anything to help her once again rose up in his chest. Perhaps it was the promise he made to Rob, but he couldn't help but compare this to the feeling of wanting to help someone he looked at as more than a friend.

Like Sasuke before her, Naruto realized he and Erza shared many things in common. So this feeling of wanting to help her as an older brother was both different but similar to wanting to help Sasuke.

"Ok Erza-chan. So where to now? I managed to sneak into that resort and get us some supplies -"

**'You mean you managed to waltz in and steal lots of supplies from that one store after they kicked you out for looking like a hoodlum. It amazes me sometimes the lengths you'll go to for some payback on idiots. Still, walking in and pretending to be the owner after using Henge was too funny. Stealing their profits for the day was only icing on the cake'**

Ignoring Kurama's sarcastic yet accurate observations Naruto continued without pause. "so we should be good on both money and all the basics we need to get to whatever town you need. We need to decide tonight so we can leave in the morning, I have a feeling we shouldn't stick too close to Akane resort for too long." he muttered as an embarrassed blush crept onto his face.

"Well there was this one place that Rob jii-chan always talked about when we worked on the tower. And now that we're free I want to head there as soon as possible to follow my dreams." Erza piped up her eye shining with excitement. The other eye was still wrapped in bandages after Naruto had finished the transplant and he planned on telling her about what had happened tomorrow after a good nights rest.

"Sure thing Erza-chan. Where do you want to go?"

"The one place where if you join they look at you and treat you like family. I want to join so I can be part of Rob jii-chan's family. I want to head to a town called Magnolia Town, and join the guild named Fairy Tail."

**A/N **I tend to start slow and then ramble in my chapters. Hopefully I didn't do that here and managed to set up the story nicely without going into too much unnecessary detail in somethings. Anyways, I have had a few ideas for one of these stories since they tend to be my favorite kind and now I finally started writing it down. Please read, review and point out any areas where you feel I can improve this a bit. Next chapter, Naruto gets to Fairy Tail, learns about mages, and decides on his future after finding out where he is, and maybe Ultear makes an appearance? We'll see. See you then!

Chidori Eiso - chidori sharp spear

Kamui - Authority of the Gods

Hiraishin - Flying Thunder God

Doton: Doryuuheki - Earth Style: Mud Encampment Wall

Doton: Dosekiryu - Earth Style: Earth and Stone Dragon

Futon: Kakeami - Wind Style: Cast Net

Tajuu Kage Bunshin - Multiple Shadow Clone

Shunshin - Body Flicker

Ninpo: Tanuki Neiri - Ninja Art: Forced Sleep

Katon: Hibashiri - Fire Style: Running Fire

Doton: Doryuu Taiga - Earth Style: Earth Flow River


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N **I honestly didn't expect my story to receive as much attention as it did thanks for the reviews, its good to know where I can improve on what I've done

"Normal speech"

_'inner speech/thoughts or flashback'_

"**jutsu/magic"**

**'Kurama/Kyuubi speech'**

Disclaimer: I do not now, although I wish I did, nor have I ever owned Naruto or Fairy Tail

**Chapter 2**

One week. That's how long it had taken to get from the Akane beach to Magnolia Town. Even though immensely enjoying her time spent with the cheerful blonde Erza knew they could have gotten here a lot sooner. For being such a powerful mage he seemingly had absolutely no sense of direction. Often getting lost and stepping off the train at the wrong stop and just wandering around the city. On more than one occasion she'd had to drag him back to the train station or to a carriage to get them back on track.

Even so she was very thankful to him even after all the delays. Naruto having noticed neither of them had any spare clothes decided to take them both clothes shopping for a few sets. After getting a room at a local inn and bathing they finally set off to Fairy Tail so they could ask to have Erza join.

After asking for directions from a few of the locals the duo set off for Fairy Tail all the while Naruto complaining. "Aw man. I can't believe they didn't have any orange! Its the best color ever. If Sasuke-teme sees me like this he'll never let me live it down. My clothes are so... so... Uchiha."

Wearing a pained expression on his face Naruto turned when he heard the sound of giggling coming from his right. "And whats so funny Erza-chan. If you knew Sasuke like I did you'd know he would never let me live this down. He'd be all like 'Hn' this and 'Hn' that. To top it all off he'd end with a 'Hn dobe hn'. So annoying, what a bastard. Doesn't help that the only comfortable clothes were a blue collared shirt and white shorts." He finished with a grimace, imagining the ridicule he'd face for dressing like a young Sasuke.

"Nothing. Just that orange would look really bad on you nii-san." Gasping Erza quickly covered her mouth at the slip of her tongue. She stared wide eyed at Naruto, fearing he wouldn't like what she'd said and leave her just like her parents had. Instead he acted as if nothing had happened and pouted.

"Thats cruel Erza-chan. Orange is the best color ever and I would look amazing in it." He came to a halt and pulled her into a one armed hug. "And I'd be honored if that's how you chose to look at me Erza-chan. I'll just make sure to never let you down."

Beaming and wearing a smile a mile wide Erza ran to catch up to Naruto as he had moved on and was headed straight for the guild in the distance.

_'He said he wouldn't let me down. He let me call him nii-san!'_ Erza was happy she'd almost arrived at Fairy Tail, but the highlight of her day was Naruto accepting what Erza said.

* * *

**Fairy Tail**

"From the sounds of it a party must be going on in there. They must have heard how awesome I am and started early. Come on Erza-chan, its rude to keep guests waiting." Naruto boasted as he puffed up his chest and slowly opened the door's of the guild. All done to relax Erza a bit as she seemed to grow increasingly nervous with each step closer to reaching the guild.

All sound died out as the people inside saw Naruto and Erza. Naruto watched each person closely as they both entered the guild. He saw a table full of children around Erza's age, around his age too come to think of it. The two of them headed for the bar on the side of the hall and asked for Master Makarov.

They waited patiently as a little old man headed their way after hearing their request. "Hey there kids. What can I do for you today? Want to put a request in for the guild."

Naruto almost laughed at how comical the Master looked. He was shorter than even Erza who was eleven and was wearing some ridiculous clothes. Schooling his face into a serious expression, Naruto leaned forward and spoke in a hushed tone of voice so he wouldn't be overheard.

"I'm here on the last wishes of a man named Rob. Unfortunately he has just passed away recently so could we discuss this further in private."

"Come with me." Holding a finger to his lips, Makarov's face adopted a pensive look before walking upstairs. The blonde teen and red haired little girl looked around once more before following him to the second floor. Once they reached the top, Makarov opened a door to the left and went inside motioning for Naruto and Erza to enter.

"Now then could you start from the beginning. I can tell this isn't a simple matter of informing an old friend of the time and place for a funeral." Makarov said behind his desk as he pointed at two chairs for Naruto and Erza to take a seat.

"Of course, well I only just met him over a week ago. I'll explain everything he said to me but I'm afraid Erza will have to explain everything else." Naruto and Erza then proceeded to explain everything and anything that had happened in the tower of heaven.

Naruto learned of how long she had met and admired Rob. How she had made friends and been given her last name by Jellal. Every time she mentioned Rob, Erza grew a little saddened but forged through it all because of the silent support Naruto was giving her. Eventually they got to the part of Erza losing an eye and starting the rebellion which is where Naruto came in.

Naruto feeling wary as his own part of the story started as an ANBU mission merely mentioned that he had ended up on the island but didn't know how as he couldn't remember. Makarov took it all in stride, having noticed the bandages wrapped around Naruto's head and Erza's eye. Finally having recapped on everything up till Rob's plea to take care of Erza, he refrained from mentioning his encounter with Jellal.

"That sounds like Rob. To take a chance on the next generation and use magic knowing the consequences." Makarov stroked his chin in thought and seemed to be staring off into the past. "Stupid fool, can't say I wouldn't do the same myself. He will be missed. Is there any chance you gave him a proper burial?"

Naruto nodded but decided to get answers now that he finally had someone to question.

"Actually before I get to that. I have a few questions if you could answer them for me. I ended up on that island by some sort of freak accident. I've noticed that this country, these towns and a lot of terms are unfamiliar to me. So I believe I must be very far from home. Could you by chance explain a lot of what I've been hearing? Like what's a mage and a guild, and if you've heard of the elemental nations and specifically Konohagakure no Sato?"

The following hour of interrogating the Master, confused, intrigued, and saddened Naruto. It seemed that although the Master didn't know everything there was, he'd certainly never heard of shinobi, Konoha, Bijuu, or his biggest hope the infamous Fourth Shinobi War. Even so, he promised to look further into it and get back to him. Naruto had just nodded and decided not to go into detail about his old world. Naruto had instead learned of the existence and theories of magic, the magic council that governed mages and the role wizard guilds played.

**'That was informative. It does explain a lot though. At least we know why its taking so long for me to recover.'**

_'Yeah and it certainly narrows down my options to find a way home' _Naruto replied to Kurama before remembering the exact conversation where most of his questions had popped up.

* * *

_Flashback_

_Naruto had just finished creating two clones and checking to make sure Erza was comfortable and still out cold he lay down. Just as he was getting ready to have his clone rip his eye out Kurama spoke up._

_**'Listen brat I'll help either way but there is something you should know before we begin. I would've mentioned it sooner but I doubt it would have made any difference. That and I don't think its that big a deal but you probably do.'**_

_'Well what is it? Unlike you I won't live forever so can you get on with the show?'_

_**'Funny you should mention that.' **Naruto could almost see the grin crossing Kurama's face. **'There's something wrong with my chakra. I know the seal is working fine since nothing's changed in here, but something is messing with my control. **_

_'What's that mean for me and my eye? If it means that you can't grow it back I'm still going to give it to her. I can always wait till I get back to Konoha or something to find a replacement.'_

_**'Hm. Touching, but no. I can still regrow it, but somethings making my chakra denser and much heavier than it needs to be. Its like back before we changed the seal and I tried forcing my will on you when you reached four tails of power in the bijuu cloak. If you remember, my chakra was so dense that it literally burned your skin right off you while growing it back at the same time.'**_

_'Yeah so? I already know its going to hurt. Spit it out already fuzz face, I'm not the most patient person around.'_

_**'Clearly. You're an idiot too, since obviously you never listened to your precious baa-chans explanations of why it was so bad to do that. Because it was so dense, my chakra hurting and healing you actually shortened your life. Did the same for Mito, its why she died much younger than most of your clan.'**_

_'So let me get this straight. For whatever reason, since you obviously don't know and neither do I. For some reason, your chakra is much heavier and me using it at all, and especially to regrow an organ, its actually shortening my life span as well as healing me short term? And wait, you don't find this a big deal!? What if I die furball!'_

_**'Tch, you won't die. At least not for the next ten years, I know that much. Then again you might be dumb enough to be killed by choking on ramen or something. But yeah, in case you haven't noticed I stopped healing your injuries from last night too. I started to feel your life growing shorter so I assumed you wanted to live as long as possible and stopped my chakra. And its not a big deal because like I said, you'd do this anyways consequences be damned.'**_

_Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Naruto made a note to harass or find some way to prank Kurama in the near future. 'Fine. You're right though, I am still going to do this. How much of my life am I cutting off out of curiosity? And how long till you think you can have your chakra under control again since its obviously not the seal doing this like last time.'_

_**'Don't know. Like I said before, my chakra is not recovering as fast as normal. A few months to a year before I can do what we're used to. Probably a few more months or years after that to train or work someway to fix it without killing you. Depends on how soon we get back to Konoha and if this will fix itself or we do it.'**_

_'Right that's important. Still, how much longer do I have to live? I never realized great aunt Mito died that much younger than any of the clan.'_

_**'Can't give exact numbers since you're a moron of a shinobi. I would say at least fifty or sixty years. Growing your eye back is more delicate and uses more chakra than when we grew your skin back. Chances are it took off close to twenty or so years of your life. Like I said before, this is the last time I do this kind of thing for you.'**_

_Looking over at the peaceful expression on Erza's face Naruto felt no regrets about helping her. 'I understand, and thanks for this. It's well worth a little pain to help Erza.' Having said his piece, Naruto signaled for his clone to get started on their eye transplant._

_Flashback End_

* * *

Naruto took a minute to lean back into his chair and think. He wanted to discuss everything he'd learned and just remembered with Kurama.

'So you thinking what I'm thinking?'

**'We should say screw Konoha and just live the rest of our lives here? This place sounds like its full of pushovers. If you train yourself up to Kage level again we could boss everyone around. Just imagine, its like being Hokage of the country not just the village.'**

Sweatdropping at Kurama's ramblings Naruto just shook his head and got back on track. _'No. This magic thing must be what's messing up your chakra. Since apparently Eternano is everywhere and mixes with the spirit of a person and spiritual flow of nature. It must be mixing with your chakra because of the Shiki Fujin seal tying both our souls together. For whatever reason the seal must throw magic out of whack and disrupt your chakra. Wonder why it didn't do the same to me?'_

**'Hahahaha. Obviously my greatness far outstrips yours. You heard the old man. Only 10% of humans can use magic. You aren't in that 10%. And yet there are a great many magical creatures running around this place. I am one of those now too. Its obvious now that the sheer magnificence of my presence will always eclipse that of my clumsy container. Hahahaha haha.'**

"Baka fox." Naruto mumbled under his breath. _'Stupid furball has all the luck. First he has more chakra then my entire village combined, and now he can use magic too.'_

"Hmm? Did you say something Naruto. I understand it must be hard not knowing how you ended up here but what are you going to do now?" Makarov asked him, concern showing on his face.

Sidestepping the question, Naruto decided to pull out a scroll from his pocket. Handing it over to Makarov he started to explain what he had done.

"As I told you before, I'm a shinobi. We shinobi can't use magic but we do have other ways of doing similar things. This scroll here can store things. I didn't feel it was right to just leave Rob ji-sans body back there so I brought it with us. Just wipe a bit of blood on the top there and the body should be unsealed."

"Thank you my boy. I'll be sure to give Rob a proper burial. Don't think I didn't notice how you avoided my question. What are you going to do now." Makarov fixed him with a stern glare as he looked between Naruto and Erza.

"Erza wants to join Fairy Tail. Rob ji-san asked me to protect her and look after her. Seems to me that the best way to do that is to let her live her dream and join. As for me, well I have a home I need to find my way back to." Having said this he looked over at Erza to gauge her reaction. It wasn't pretty.

"Nii-san... you're leaving? But you just got here. Don't go!" Erza cried as a tear slowly made its way down her cheek.

Frowning at the display in front of him, Naruto heard an echo of his own voice from earlier. _'I'll just make sure to never let you down... I'd be honored if that's how you chose to look at me Erza-chan.' _Making up his mind he knew what he was going to do.

"Don't worry Erza-chan. I won't let you down remember? I promised to look after you and I never break my promises. Just give me a month Erza-chan. I need a month to get my affairs in order. There's a friend I have to see if I can find. And hopefully maps to know how far away I am from getting home. I'll be back in a month though, that's a promise." He then pulled out a tissue and wiped away the tear from her eye.

"Don't look so sad Erza-chan. I just need to head to Capital Crocus to that big library over there. I'm sure they'll have what I'm looking for. And I'll be back right after to let you know what I'm going to do next." Glad that at least Erza had stopped crying, Naruto didn't want to tell her he had another reason to leave besides looking for Sasuke and a way home.

"Surely that won't take you a month though Naruto. We will of course let Erza join the guild if thats what she wants. But why don't you join too? We could always use good people like you two at this guild." Makarov interrupted not knowing of Naruto's plans.

Grimacing at a possible wrench in his actions so early Naruto heard Erza giggle before she spoke up. "Actually Master, Naruto nii-san is really bad with directions. It took us a week to get here from Akane beach. Even though it should take less than a day."

"Come on Erza-chan. You're supposed to respect your elders, don't embarrass me like that." Scratching the back of his head and looking away in embarrassment Naruto still chuckled at Erza's comments. If anyone were to ask, he'd blame it on magic messing with his sense of direction though.

**'While at the library check the current dates too and major historical events.'**

_'Hm. Why's that?'_

**'You used a Jikukan jutsu at the same time as the Uchiha. That's a space time impossibility. We might be in a different dimension similar to your toad summons. Or we might have been flung to a different time from our own. We don't know if it was just our location that changed or something else.'**

_'Yeah you're right. Hopefully its a different dimension. At least I could work on that problem myself. Time though, I don't think even seals can transport people through time. But dimensions have a precedence at least, I mean, thats where we get summons from.'_

Getting up to leave, Naruto walked to the door and opened it before turning back engulfing Erza in a hug. "I'll be back in a month Erza-chan. In the mean time practice your magic so you can control it better. And don't get too sad, you'll always have a piece of me with you. See you in a month imooto." he said before winking at her and leaving the room.

**'Drama queen. When chibi-Kushina finds out what you did and meant you better not come crying to me to fix it.'**

Ignoring his ever talkative tenant Naruto walked out of the guild and headed for Magnolia Station.

* * *

It was as he was waiting for the next train to take him back close to Akane resort that Makarov found him.

"Now that Erza isn't around I wanted to ask you something since you seemed to want to keep this private." he said as he sat next to him on the bench.

"What's that then Master?" Naruto asked.

"I may not be the greatest at casting them, but I wouldn't be a good Master if I couldn't detect a simple illusion. Granted this one was a bit tough since it seems restricted to your head but I want to know why. Why are you hiding anything from Erza? She seems like a good girl, and she cares the world for you. I'm sure whatever it is you're hiding isn't so shameful that she'd turn away from you." Makarov spoke quietly yet with a serious tone of voice.

Knowing that he couldn't get out of this now and a bit impressed he'd been found out Naruto dropped his **Henge**. It was barely noticeable but the bandages wrapped around his forehead extended a bit to wrap around his right eye. That and the whisker birth marks he had disappeared from his cheeks although, he didn't know that.

"Its nothing I'm ashamed of Master. I just didn't want her getting sad or feeling as if she didn't deserve what I gave her. I noticed she was hurt and missing an eye. I promised to look after her. So I gave her mine. My right eye for hers. Its something she shouldn't have to feel guilty about if she saw it." Glancing at the clock hoping for an escape, Naruto only sighed as his train wouldn't leave for another half hour.

"That explains it a bit. I was going to take her to a friend of mine to have an artificial eye put in. Your solution works better for her though, as you were right, you'll always be with her. If you want I can have my friend Porlyusica look at your eye for you?" Makarov turned to look at him and offered.

Never before had he encountered such a selfless individual. One willing to sacrifice an eye for the sake of a promise. Offering his help was the least he could do for this young man.

Smiling wryly Naruto shook his head and decided to explain his dismissal of help. "No thank you its not necessary. The reason I didn't tell Erza about it is because I can actually grow my own eye back. It's painful but it was worth it to help her. You see, I didn't know if she'd ever be able to see again without an eye, and well I had a spare."

Eyes widening in surprise at this formidable ability Makarov had one more question to ask. "I see. A talent like that must surely have its downsides. I find it hard to believe regrowing ones organs or vital parts could have no repercussions."

Grimacing at being caught out so quickly Naruto decided to trust Makarov with a slight version of the truth. "It does. However, if I tell you, you can't tell Erza about this. Understood?"

"No. She deserves to know about how much you've helped her. I can promise however, not to reveal what price you had to pay for such an ability. In case you've forgotten, she is under the impression that she has no eye. Sooner or later she will find out she does. My guess is sooner. And I will not lie to her if she asks me if I might have an idea how it happened."

Knowing this was the best deal he was going to get Naruto agreed. "Its a bit complicated to explain, but basically I have this higher healing ability. Normally it means I can just recover from training and bruises faster. In this case though, I had to pay a bit of a price to regrow my eye. Twenty years. It cost me twenty years of my natural life to regrow my eye. So you see, that's why I didn't want Erza to find out the repercussions of giving her my eye."

Nodding in understanding, Makarov knew that a young girl like Erza might very well feel guilty if anyone told her what had happened. "Can I see your eye then? If there are any problems with it my friend is a very good healer and can help. Why did you have an illusion of whisker marks on your face anyways?"

Slowly unwrapping his bandages as there was no point in the get up anymore, Naruto looked slightly confused at the last question.

_'Whats he talking about Kurama. Is there something wrong with my face? As far as I know I just **Henged** my face back to normal and wrapped the bandages over it and my eye.'_

Yawning, Kurama decided to answer Naruto, as he knew he had forgotten to mention something before. **'Yeah actually. When I regrew your body I didn't bother to add the whisker marks back. Originally you had them so I could piss Kushina off when you were born since she was my ****container. And I never really had to regrow your face since we changed the seal so I never removed them. Before the seal I only left them on there hoping to piss you off too.'**

Nearly falling off the bench at the nonchalance of the answer Naruto couldn't help but chuckle. Kurama did have a bit of a sense of humor. Adding birth marks just to annoy its previous host.

_'Oh well, a new face is fine. It was annoying having people recognize me so easily back home. Maybe this'll help.' _Naruto mused quietly.

As he turned to look at Makarov he was confused at the look of amusement on his face.

"Decided to honor that nii-san title eh Naruto? It will certainly link the two of you as close to siblings as possible now." Pulling a mirror out of nowhere Makarov decided to show him what he meant.

_'What happened here fuzz face! My whiskers are one thing but what happened to my eye.'_

**'Don't know, must be from your mothers side of the family. Recessive genes and all that. Chakra isn't perfect brat now leave me alone. Besides this brings you closer to chibi-Kushina now that she's your sister doesn't it?'**

Aware that both of his parents had blue eyes, even if his own were like his father's, Naruto couldn't help but tease Kurama a bit.

_'Aww, you're such a softy Kurama-chaaaan. I know you did this because you couldn't bear to see Erza so sad about me leaving. When I show her it'll make her happy again, which you probably planned from the beginning didn't you?' _Naruto slyly asked his lifelong companion.

**'Next time you get wounded, I'm just going to let you bleed out brat.'**

"Well my train is almost here Master, I guess the only thing I have to say is take care of Erza. Oh and Rob ji-san said he died because he ran out of magic. Don't let Erza train too hard then, or you'll deal with me." Naruto said the last part with an air of intimidation to convey how serious he was.

Instead Makarov just laughed. "Don't worry about that Naruto. Rob didn't die from using too much magic. No, he had a disease that would flare up and put strain on his heart every time he used magic. It's why he left the guild to live a peaceful life. Otherwise how do you explain him never escaping before hand and coming back with help?"

"Oh. That makes more sense." Chuckling and rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment Naruto stepped onto the train that had just arrived. Waving over his shoulder he decided to take a quick nap before he headed back to the Tower of Heaven.

* * *

T n T

* * *

That night saw him on the shores of the very island he had escaped from about a week ago. Dressed in dark clothes this time he slowly crept up to the tower, careful not to alert the guards patrolling. Pulling a spare ANBU mask out of a scroll, he walked up the side of the tower to an open window.

**'Still don't get why you didn't just kill Jellal a week ago.'**

_'Wouldn't have solved anything. Plus my clone sensed someone else in the room when it eavesdropped on him and Erza. Whoever it was must be pretty good to control him so easily.'_

**'Can't have been that good. Jellal is what eleven? How much power do you need to control a child like that.'**

_'Maybe, but I doubt that I would find out who it was if I did kill Jellal right then and there. I want to find the mastermind to this R-System thing. If I killed Jellal then that person hiding, would have just left and chosen to build the R-System somewhere else. I'd never know who it is so he'd be free to bring back monsters like Madara and Orochimaru. When I find out who the mastermind is, I can take them out at my leisure.'_

**'Can you sense the person you felt in there now?'**

_'I can't tell specific people apart. I can only sense two strong signatures for now. I'll have to sneak closer and find out whats going on.'_

**'Don't use any genjutsu. If Makarov was able to spot your Henge then assume these guys will too. Use one of the ninja arts and avoid Katon and Doton techniques. Less chance of them recognizing you as the same person from a week ago.'**

Taking Kurama's suggestions to heart, Naruto went through the seals and whispered **"Ninpo: Meisaigakure no jutsu"**

Slowly his image faded until only slight distortions could differentiate between himself and the wall. Keeping in mind that he had to be quick and find his target, Naruto skillfully navigated the tower to the top floor. Once there he quickly ducked into the room where Erza and Jellal were tortured earlier.

Making sure to stay silent the entire time, he noticed Jellal was talking to an older silver haired man about some sort of training. The man in question had neat silver hair that fell to his shoulders. Dark eyes and skin that resembled the native people of Kumo were his other distinguishing features. He also seemed to carry some sort of skull shaped staff. Creeping closer to hear what was going on, Naruto was not disappointed for his efforts.

"Come Jellal, we have already transferred the other kids to our base near Shirotsume. We must now begin your training. After you get to an adequate level we will concentrate on rebuilding the tower. If that blonde haired trash comes back, be sure to call me and I'll take care of him." The white haired man spoke as he steered Jellal out of the room.

"Fine, but we must make the tower our priority on our return. Remember who it is that Zeref speaks to Brain. It is me and not you." Following after the now named Brain, Jellal descended the stairs until they both reached the ground floor.

"Do not fail again Jellal. I care not if you speak to Zeref, you set us far back by allowing all the slaves to escape. Even now, we've only recovered a portion of the people. And not being able to take care of a single child mage, its pitiful." Brain rebuked Jellal as they made their way out to the boats outside.

Deciding he'd heard enough and confirming that Brain was indeed the person he felt earlier that week Naruto revealed himself. "Sorry to burst your bubble fellas but neither of you will leave this place alive. I've heard enough out of the both of you to know you plan to restart the R-System. Combined with schemes to enslave more people and plots to go after some blonde mage I feel it'd be safer to take you two out right now."

"Who are you and how did you get onto this island. It doesn't matter, I will crush a worm like you here and now. My plans will not be stopped by a mask wearing wannabe hero." Brain then pointed his staff at Naruto and fired off a spell.

Naruto dodged it quickly before returning fire.

"**Raiton: Raiju Hashiri"** his fist encased in lightning a snarling wolf leapt from his palm before charging Brain head on.

Eyes wide in surprise Brain barely had time to retaliate with his magic. Even so this was the first time he'd seen elemental magic used like this.

"**Tokoyami Kaisenkyoku"**

A wave of dark magic filled with horror-stricken faces crashed against the lightning beast. Before the dust storm could clear Brain heard Jellal cry out from behind him. Turning quickly he was able to see him pulled underground leaving only his head above it.

"Fairly impressive for scum like you to be able to take out my apprentice. Don't think those cheap parlor tricks will work on me." Brain called out hoping to lure the masked man out.

Not knowing where his enemy was going to attack from next, but guessing it was from underground Brain launched a preemptive strike.

"**Dakugurabiti" **As the ground began to implode on itself Naruto shot out of the earth and called out a technique he hoped would capture his opponent.

"**Raiton: Shichu Shibari" **Brain could only watch in curiosity as nothing happened save four pillars erupting from the earth surrounding him. So he was caught completely off guard as they shot lightning out towards him and completely immobilized him.

"Now then" Naruto started "I would love to hand you over to the proper authorities and let them handle this. But I'm afraid that I can't let this tower continue to exist. And if you live with the knowledge of how to build one, I fear someone else will seek you out and try to do the same. So now that I have the two of you paralyzed I can start to take this tower apart."

"Jellal you worthless piece of trash. Do something. Surely you have more power than this." Brain yelled as he hoped Jellal would break him out.

"Its no use Brain. Yes, I know who you are. I've been spying on you for quite some time, so trust me you won't get away." Naruto lied as he was hoping to discourage them from escaping.

Running out to the edge of the island and jumping on top of the water Naruto turned after he made it a fair distance away.

Brain having thought the fool had left them there by themselves was filled with a sense of impending doom as a wave of power descended upon him and Jellal. Knowing it could only be the masked person out in the ocean, he continued to try and free himself. After he freed his hand he could only watch in dread as the masked fighter yelled out his attack and he saw it rush forwards and engulf them all.

Naruto, as soon as he got out a fair distance away decided to launch his most powerful lightning attack. Normally used against large groups of enemies, he felt it would be great to use on the tower. The downside being it required massive amounts of chakra and well over fifty hand seals. That's why he had to have both of his enemies captured before he could attempt it. Otherwise they could stop him before he could even begin. Completing the last seal Naruto gripped his right hand with his left and stuck his right palm out in front of him with the fingers pointed skywards.

"**Raiton: Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho"** a blinding light filled the heavens as a massive blue electricity blast rocketed from his palm and headed straight towards the tower and anything near it. Staying only long enough to confirm that nothing was left after that, Naruto decided to save his chakra and **Hiraishin **back to Akane beach where he'd left a new kunai.

As he landed on the beach and swayed on his feet from the tiring effects of that massive jutsu, Naruto almost felt like dancing in victory. Until his tenant decided to kill his mood.

**'Don't know why you're celebrating brat. Instead of interrogating your enemy and taking apart the tower piece by piece to make sure no one could ever rebuild it, all you did was shoot jutsu like it was going out of style.'**

_'What are you going on about now Kurama? I completed my mission didn't I. Destroyed the tower, and found out the mastermind behind the plan.'_

**'You may know enough jutsu to impress your copy-cat sensei but that doesn't mean you are strong. I am only trying to warn you Naruto. You no longer have me to rely on in a tight situation. True that hasn't happened in years but you are no longer the ANBU elite of two weeks ago. You are once again in the body of a thirteen year old. This means, you are slower, weaker, and have less stamina than you are used to. Don't get cocky brat. If you recall, last time you were this age it was me that had to bail you out of most situations.'**

About to angrily retort that it wasn't true, Naruto bit his tongue and decided to review and see if he was getting cocky. _'Lets see, first there was Haku, yeah got help there. Taki? No Kurama had my back there too. Yuki no Kuni? No. Chuunin exams? No. Gaara? Defnitely not. Damn, guess he's right. Ok Kurama you're right. I guess I do have to build my strength up again. Oh man it was bad enough going through puberty once, its going to be hell a second time.'_

**'Think of this as training you love so much brat. Since you don't have me to rely on as much, now you can become strong without anyone doubting you. If I were you though, I would try and train your sage mode with shadow clones only. If my chakra affected you so badly, I can't imagine what sage chakra would do to you.'**

Only nodding his head in acceptance Naruto decided to find a place to sleep before he headed to Capital Crocus the next day. After which he would try and see if Sasuke landed on this world too, or a completely different one as he feared. Feeling his job was done, Naruto put his latest adventure out of mind and would almost completely forget about it come morning.

* * *

Far above and away from the beach, Naruto didn't notice the airship that was floating above where the tower once stood. Inside of the ship sat a most displeased guild master. Not because his plans had been set back no, because he didn't know anything about this new mage. All he knew was that he used lightning magic, but in an unusual way, and he wore a mask.

"Brain. You are lucky I decided that the information you contain was worth me bothering to save you. Now tell me everything you know about your attacker. Do you think its the same person Jellal described saving the slaves?" The guild master of the Grimoire Heart asked from his throne on the observation deck. It was quite a room, boasting a glass dome, enforced by metal beams with an impressive view to the outside.

Bowing his head to his acknowledged superior Brain could only shake his head no. "Jellal said the one that escaped him, was a blonde fire mage who could use earth magic. This fighter used only lightning magic. At one point I believed he might be the same since he burrowed underground and then surrounded me with stone pillars. But those same pillars shot out lightning so it couldn't have been him. It is unheard of for one so young to wield three branches of elemental magic so there is little hope it is the same person."

"I see, consider yourself lucky I had my minion transport you up here before you were killed. This mage is most interesting. He is not of a dark guild yet he does not show aversion to death. Keep an eye out for him and contact me if you find him. Jellal will not remember how he was saved so tell him it was you that used teleportation magic to save him. In the mean time I will call Ultear from her studies and have her restore the island. It will be a good test of her power." The dark old man mused out loud.

"I would suggest you leave before she gets here Brain. I will not stop her if she attacks you. And she is far more important to me than you are at the moment. Use the masked person's overconfidence against him. He believes you and Jellal dead, do nothing to bring forth his attention. Complete your plans without drawing attention to yourself."

"Of course Master. I will just take Jellal and begin his training along with the other brats. Hopefully none of them will be a disappointment after all we put them through." with that, Brain rose from his position and walked out the door leaving the master to his thoughts.

_'A most interesting mystery we have on our hands. I wonder who this new player is and what he knows. I will not allow him to interfere with my plans with the one true magic. If I can I will recruit him. If not, I will take him out with my own hand.'_

**A/N **I wanted to keep going but if I did then this chapter would be far longer than I want to write. For anyone disappointed in the fight scenes, I will say it was sort of my intention. Last chapter, Naruto fought essentially civilians with guns. This one, he caught Brain completely off guard with strange magic he hadn't seen before and he also ran away to launch a big attack. He had the element of surprise on his side so he took him out quickly. It won't always be so easy for him since he has to relearn to how to fight essentially. One last thing. Yes it really is Ultear controlling Jellal, but Naruto doesn't know that. He just jumped in and assumed he was right.

Henge – Transform

Meisaigakure no jutsu – camouflage concealment technique

Raiton: Raij Hashiri – Lightning style: lightning beast running

Tokoyami Kaisenkyoku – Dark Rondo

Dakugurabiti – Dark Gravity

Raiton: Shichu Shibari – Lightning style: Four pillar bind

Raiton: Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho – Lightning Style: Flying Dragon Striking Heaven Shaking Thunder Cannon


	3. Chapter 3

"Normal speech"

_'inner speech/thoughts or flashback'_

"**jutsu/magic"**

**'Kurama/kyuubi speech'**

Disclaimer: I am sadly not the owner of either Naruto or Fairy Tail

**Chapter 3**

The Grand Crocus Library was vast, vast and intimidating. To call it anything less than imposing would be a an insult to the endless number of books gathered here. Books that had been added and found their way into this quiet domain over the years. The shelves and cabinets stocked so closely together and filled to the brim so much so that not an inch of space was wasted in this titanic tower of books. Nearly ten floors of knowledge with walkways criss-crossing from one end of the building to another, only adding to its commanding atmosphere. Even though the library was huge and left little doubt that it was meant for research, for some reason it only boasted four round tables in the middle of the first floor.

Researchers would make do when visiting this library, often stacking books on top of one another in the middle of walkways and reading them there. Sometimes even building their own table out of other books. Luckily for them, the library was usually empty save for one or two people at a time. Access to such a vast wealth of knowledge, in the capital no less, was strictly regulated to minimize potential damage or abuse of valued information.

Too bad there had been a certain blonde haired shinobi with a penchant for ignoring the rules all set to do research. If he wanted a way into the library, he would certainly find it. Slipping into the locked building and keeping quiet about his presence was childs play to a shinobi of his caliber. The only thing he had to worry about now was making sure to stay on task during his information hunt. He was nearing the end of his month long crusade into Earthland in search of answers so he had to do as much as possible as quickly as possible while at the library.

His biggest problem so far though was his failure to reliably identify the kinds of books he needed as he didn't know the library's catalog methods. The jutsu library and history books in Konoha were stored in a vastly different method to what was apparently the standard here. Even worse was his growing frustration at not finding the answers in the books he _did_ find. Nothing could endanger the future of the books more than an irritated Naruto. The reason he was at an impasse for his research? Why that would be the sole blame of one other researcher in the library, a girl that looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years of age.

This pale skinned young woman, with dark purple almost black hair and brown eyes was slowly and surely driving Naruto crazy. Outfitted in a pale blue sleeveless dress that ran down to her knees, she radiated an air of a serious and calm attitude. This girl wore her hair at shoulder length and had sandals to finish off her look. All in all she was the main reason he hadn't gotten much done the last few days.

Naruto didn't know how she had gotten a pass into the library but he did know that because of her he couldn't just spam as many of his clones as possible and drastically reduce his time looking for a solution to his problems.

In the last few days that he had snuck in she had made a habit to grab all four round tables for her own use and not leave until sunset. Naruto had enough of sneaking around and finally decided to drop in on her and hopefully fool her into thinking he was allowed in. After that, he would pretend his clones were magic or something and carry on with his work. Before he could do that though he noticed that she took out a crystal ball of some kind and peered into it. Nodding her head a few times in apparent agreement she then put it away and continued her reading.

This brought up a whole slew of questions for him and most notably doubts about revealing himself. If she could, for example, call security on that thing she would definitely get him kicked out.

**'Bah what are you waiting for brat? She already knows you're here just go and talk to her already. That way we can get the information we've been looking for.'** Kurama growled out, having gotten fed up with all the stalling his container was doing.

_'How do you know she knows I'm here? Maybe I should go and talk to her. It would definitely help me get all this done faster if I could finally use clones.'_

**'Think about it. That technique she used down there. Doesn't it remind you of a certain crystal ball back in the Hokage's office? And aren't you usually the subject of observation in said crystal ball there too?' **

_'Shut up. I swear. Paint the Hokage monument once or twice and all of a sudden you're a security risk and should be watched at all times. Whatever, I'll go ask her about it. Its not like I was doing much up here anyways.'_

Deciding to finally drop in on his library companion Naruto revealed himself in the most direct way possible. By literally dropping in on the chair right next to her.

"Hey. What was that trick you just did with that fancy ball looking thing?" He asked with a smile on his face and genuine curiosity marring his features. He was hoping to open up a casual conversation with this girl so she could get used to his presence here without calling for anyone else.

Startled the girl jumped out of her chair and distanced herself from this stranger that had snuck up on her. She wasn't aware of any other person being allowed into the library today but then again, this blonde haired teenager couldn't have slipped in without a pass either. Irritation quickly overtook her feelings of surprise and she decided to get some info on this person.

"Who are you and what are you doing sneaking up on people like that?! Don't you know its rude to startle someone. And what do you want with me anyways." Fixing him with a cold glare she waited on his answer.

_'Hey Kurama I thought you said she knew I was here!' _A panicked Naruto asked, hoping he hadn't just screwed up and gotten himself kicked out for trespassing.

**'So I lied. What's new.' **Sweatdropping at the uncaring tone of voice from his tenant Naruto decided the safest way out of this situation was to answer all her questions. Perhaps after that, she would be willing to answer some questions of his.

"Uh sorry about that. Names Naruto. I guess I didn't notice how engaged you were with the book. I just saw you doing something with that crystal thing from up there" waving his hand to indicate the upper floors behind him "and was curious about it. I've seen something similar in my village so I was wondering about what you did with it just now."

Moving over to another chair so as to calm the girl down Naruto kept talking hoping to keep her quiet so no one would find out he broke in.

"Anyways. What's your name? And whats with that crystal ball thing? I think I've seen something like it before."

Eyeing the blonde boy suspiciously but in the end deciding he wasn't much of a threat she scoffed and sat back down to renew her reading.

"My name is Ultear. And that 'crystal ball thing' you mentioned is just a form of communication lacrima. I'm sure you've seen many others use it before. I was not aware I had to share the library today. When did you get here?" She asked by raising a delicate eyebrow in Naruto's direction.

Ignoring the question for now Naruto decided to focus back on the now named lacrima as he suddenly remembered its most popular use back in Konoha. Pointing a finger in her direction his indignant shouts echoed in the library.

"Wait a minute! I remember now. The old man and leader of my village used to use his crystal ball to peep on the women's bath houses. You're not perving on anyone like that are you?!"

_**'Idiot. He's in for a world of pain now' **_Kurama thought to himself.

A blush overtook Ultear's cheeks and she dropped her mouth open in shock. Whether this was from embarrassment or anger it wasn't apparent until she finally found her voice again.

"No I am not a pervert!" She picked herself up out of her chair and advanced on the blonde haired annoyance to her research. Advancing slowly but with a determined step she decided to make it very clear how wrong he was about her. "But if that's the first thing that comes to mind when you see a communication lacrima then maybe I should make sure you aren't a pervert either."

Naruto, seeing her slowly advance and cracking her knuckles could only whimper and hope her beatings wouldn't be as bad as Tsunade baa-chan's or Sakura's either. So waving his hands in front of him and quickly dropping to his knees to beg he started to quickly apologize.

"Sorry sorry. Its just that, I didn't know what those things were, and I've only ever seen one or two people use it. I just hope you aren't like either of them. My pervy old village leader who was a guy and the new closet pervert one that's a woman. I've always tried to see what they're looking at but they always acted like it was nothing."

Her face still red, Ultear wanted to make it very clear to this Naruto that she definitely wasn't a closet pervert either.

"Well I'm not a pervert! Whatever. I have to leave soon anyways. And don't even think of using lacrima in that way for yourself. Just help me put all my things away and I'll forget this ever happened." She warned threateningly while shaking her fist in his face.

Sensing a perfect opportunity to use his clones and learn where everything is put away Naruto eagerly nodded and shouted out his favorite jutsu.

"**Tajuu Kage Bunshin"** Instantly the library was filled with a few dozen new Naruto's and they all quickly made their way to the books on the tables to put them all away.

Never having seen this magic before, Ultear thought that maybe Naruto wasn't as harmless as he looked if he could make solid copies of himself. Inwardly she was surprised and curious at such a useful ability. So leaving the copies to do the work for her she walked over to the original to get some answers.

"You're a wizard too aren't you? What guild do you belong to?" _'If he doesn't belong to any, he might be able to help me complete my ambition'_ Having stopped next to him Ultear watched as he nervously rubbed the back of his head in a sheepish manner. Closing his eyes and with a bashful smile on his face he answered her.

"Well I'm actually not part of any guild." he said.

_'Perfect. Now to find out how useful he can be, I won't waste my time on mere parlor tricks.' _Ultear thought to herself.

"But I have been offered a position at Fairy Tail" Looking upwards and not noticing Ultear's frown at this information he continued "but I'm actually a long way from home and looking for someone. I'm supposed to go back to Fairy Tail soon to check in with someone there but I haven't found out as much as I wanted to from this library."

Curiosity getting the better of her Ultear decided to ask him more questions. "Is this person at Fairy Tail the reason you were offered to join? And what kind of information were you looking for. I might be able to help."

"Her name is Erza and yeah she is the reason I am debating whether I should join or not. I'm actually here in the library looking for maps and history books. Like I said, I'm a long way from home. I'm trying to see how far away I am, as I don't recognize any of the towns or landmarks around here." Naruto answered, he didn't want to reveal too much information about where he was from so he decided to be a little vague with the little he shared.

"Erza huh. Well Fairy Tail is an up and coming guild so she should be able to make a name for herself there if she's good enough." Ultear commented. What she really wanted to find out was if she could still use him for her plans even if he did join Fairy Tail. After getting a good look at him she picked up on his eye color. Seeing as it was unusual she decided to ask about it too.

"Your eyes. They're two different colors. Interesting. I've read about it but never seen anyone with Heterochromia Iridum, even if it runs in the family it is still quite rare. Anyways, Erza, she must be important to you if you will join a guild for her. She's family isn't she?"

Surprise shone on Naruto's face as she asked this. Not because of her thinking his eyes were natural and ran in the family, unlike what shinobi would think. Instead it was because he didn't know how to answer her question. Erza was clearly important to him, he had donated an eye after all. Was she family to him though? Sure he'd let her call him nii-san, but so did Konohamaru. In the end, since he still hadn't found out how to get home he decided that as long as he hung around Fairy Tail, then yes Erza was family to him. After that, well he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

"Yeah, she is. Ah, well my clones are done putting the books away. I hope I see you around more often Ultear-chan. I might be leaving soon too, but I'll probably stick around Fairy Tail for now." Having answered her question he was surprised when she quickly leaned in and punched him on the shoulder.

"Don't add -chan to my name. We aren't that close." Ultear growled out but with a light red dusting on her cheeks. She couldn't decide if she was madder at him joining the guild or at his casual use of her name.

Pouting slightly Naruto rubbed his arm. _'At least she didn't punch me in the face like other girls used to do. Still, its nice talking to someone that doesn't treat me like a hero just for making clones.' _A teasing smirk appeared on his face as he decided to rile this girl up like he used to all the other girls he met before he got sick of everyone's attention.

**'Riiight. Thats why you enjoy talking to her, the lack of hero worship. Masochist.' **Kurama added sarcastically.

_'Shut up furball!'_

"Aw don't be like that Ultear-chan. Ow! You did it again Ultear-chan. You know, Ultear-chan with all the blows you keep sending my way, one might think we're not even friends Ultear-chan." He was laughing as he easily evaded her punches and added fuel to the fire.

"Who said we are friends! You're infuriating." Putting an end to chasing the blonde around the library tables Ultear decided that maybe, just maybe he would be useful to her in the future. She wouldn't admit it even to herself, but she found him interesting beyond even his strange magic. In time she'd find out more about him, for now she would leave him be and possibly add him to her plans later on.

After she had finally stopped chasing after him, Naruto quickly ran over to her side once more and decided to get one last shot in. "But of course we're friends Ultear-chan. I mean you already know who I am, and where I'm going to be. I'm sure you'll want to keep in touch with someone as awesome as me."

Punching him once more, even if both knew he let himself get hit, she decided to ask him about his magic. "What was that magic anyways? I answered about the lacrima so its only fair you answer. And get that silly grin off your face. I am no pervert!"

"Heh heh sorry Ultear-chan. Those were shadow clones. A sort of special magic from where I come from. I can create solid copies of myself and when they disperse all the knowledge they gained is transferred to me." He explained to her, seeing as how he was going to stick around the shadow clones were probably going to be his signature technique here too.

_'That's an incredibly useful magic. And something tells me there's more to this guy than meets the eye. Master would no doubt have his own plans for him, so for now I'll keep information on Naruto to myself.' _Ultear just nodded in understanding to his explanation as she kept her thoughts private.

"Well as pleasurable as your company is," ignoring his laughter at her sarcasm Ultear continued "I have a very important meeting to go to. I will no doubt hear about your deeds if you join a guild Naruto. Goodbye." Turning on her heel she headed for the doors and was halfway out before she heard his last words.

"Bye now Ultear-chaaan!"

Gritting her teeth in frustration she only turned to glare at him one last time before she left.

**'Interesting female that one. Now then, get on with the information hunt. I am immortal but that doesn't mean I enjoy wasting my time in a library. And remember, we're supposed to be back in Magnolia by the day after tomorrow.'**

_'Yeah yeah furball. I'll get to it. It was a nice break from sneaking around though. I wouldn't miss my deadline anyways Kurama. I did make a promise after all.'_

One more application of his favorite technique and Naruto decided to sit back while he gathered as much info as possible. Reflecting on the last month that he had spent searching for Sasuke and failing he was still confident his friend was alright. Now all he had to do was talk to Makarov and Erza and then he'd decide what he would do if he found out he was stuck here.

* * *

T n T

* * *

**Fairy Tail two days later**

Once again Naruto walked into what seemed to be a free for all brawl. Chairs flying, tables breaking, bottles smashing and magic being thrown around like it was candy, walking through it all was akin to walking through a minefield.

Shaking his head at their antics Naruto couldn't help but think he would enjoy this place if he did join. For now he assumed he would just stick around Magnolia town and occasionally venture out to search for Sasuke and a way back home.

He'd found out a lot in that library. The sighting and confirmation of existence of dragons, even if rare, as well as the widespread use of magical items. Shinobi chakra and techniques may be more diverse and potent but it seemed that lacrima more than made up for that here. Things such as communication lacrima, fuel lacrima, and movie lacrima just some of the few choices available for all people not just mages.

Although he didn't recognize any of the historical events that had happened here it didn't mean much. The fact that there were dragons could mean he was just sent back in time. Dragons had long ago disappeared from the elemental continent, long before the Rikudou Sennin, but they had existed. Many techniques were based off of their power after all. So since he hadn't ruled out being in a different dimension, and all history before the Rikudou Sennin's time was lost, he was back to square one in finding out where he was stuck in.

Having spotted the diminutive Master as he walked in, he headed straight towards the bar and sat on the stool right next to him. Waiting for Makarov to finish his oversized mug of beer Naruto looked around for Erza in the meantime.

"She's out on a job my boy. Now then, today is the day you were set to return so I'm sure she'll be here shortly. The mission was taken a few days ago so she could be back in time to see you. Lets go up to my office to talk. Its getting a little rowdy in here." Makarov then jumped off the stool and headed for the second floor without looking back to see if Naruto was following.

Settling himself down in the offered chair once he got into the office, Naruto opened up the conversation. "It seems I am indeed very far from home Master. Unfortunately I can't return yet. So I was wondering, if after I spoke to Erza to get her opinion, would that offer to join still be open?"

Shrugging as if people joining his guild was an everyday occurrence Makarov answered Naruto before deciding to ask some questions of his own. "Sure. You can join. Before you do, you must know about us here in Fairy Tail. Like Erza said, we treat everyone here as family, when one cries we all cry, when one celebrates we all rejoice. You glossed over your home and this so called war. Could you elaborate on that. And I do know what a shinobi is even if I have never met nor encountered one yet. So you need to know that we don't condone or accept killing here." He finished that last part off with a serious look on his face.

"While I can explain about my village, I can't give away its secrets Master. Just because I don't live there for now doesn't mean I will betray it. The war was a revolutionary war in an attempt to overthrow our ruler. I believed it was well known but as I said, I found out I am very far from home. My home is far to the east of here, farther than the Pergrande Kingdom. I accept the no killing rule, as a shinobi I was part of the military force to protect my home so just because I can doesn't mean I will." _'At least not anymore' _Naruto added to himself.

"That's alright I guess. Truthfully I would like to know more about what you asked last time." Makarov then held up his hand to silence Naruto before he could be interrupted.

"However, I respect that some things are secret and must remain secret even if you leave. Fairy Tail has much the same policy in place for anyone that leaves here. Have you found a safe way home or whatever it was that stopped you from returning a month ago?"

Naruto shook his head in the negative and spoke up. "Unfortunately I cannot return home just yet. You see, our village has a very strict no man left behind policy. I came to Fiore with a friend of mine and was separated. I cannot and will not return without him or at least without finding out what happened to him."

**'Not to mention we have no idea how. At least you managed to tell him enough half-truths to satisfy his curiosity without giving much away. Join the guild though Naruto. It'll be your best bet to find a way back to Konoha.'**

Naruto nodded and pulled a manila folder with paperwork inside out of his travel bag and showed it to Makarov. "Oh and I brought the paperwork you asked for Master. Erza told me of her last name and I decided it would be a good idea to get some papers for me as well."

Reaching out and taking the paperwork from Naruto's hands, Makarov leafed through all the necessary information that he had brought. Raising an eyebrow in curiosity at what some of the information presented he finished reading before commenting on what he saw. Letting out a slight chuckle Makarov leaned back into his chair and eyed the noble blonde across the table from him.

"She will certainly be glad about this new development Naruto. But are you sure you want this? I assume you did most of this because of the strong bond you now share between you."

Naruto just grinned and rose from his seat. "Of course I am Master. Now I think I'll just go out and wait for Erza-chan so I can talk to her. See you in a bit with my decision."

Waving him out the door Makarov couldn't help but think that Fairy Tail would certainly be interesting in the years to come. He couldn't explain it, but he got this feeling of great power from Naruto, and from the looks of it Erza would benefit from having him around. She certainly needed it. The past month had been difficult for her. Erza had become more withdrawn following Naruto's departure. She was socially awkward often maintaining a silent demeanor unless she was addressed first. That was a far cry from the excitable and smiling young girl he had seen entering the guild with Naruto by her side. Hoping that the outgoing and cheerful blonde would pull her out of her shell and help her overcome her demons from living as a slave, Makarov decided to head out and get the guild back under control.

* * *

Having arrived sometime in the morning, Naruto only had to wait until about noon before Erza showed up. Apparently she was in a hurry as she had rushed into the guild and straight past him heading directly to the bar and Master Makarov. She hadn't changed much from the last time Naruto saw her.

Erza wore a green sundress he'd bought her with a simple armor breastplate and a sword hanging at her hip. Boots and a travel bag completed her ensemble as she strode quickly to the bar ignoring everything around her.

Knowing why she was in such a hurry, Naruto decided to head her off so he could talk to her about his decision. "Ah Erza-chan. It wounds me that you have forgotten me already. Its only been a month and yet, you just ignore me to get some food after coming in. I'm crushed." Of course he wouldn't be Naruto if he didn't tease her a bit, if only to get her to calm down.

Freezing in her steps, Erza slowly turned to face Naruto. She had of course hurried back to the guild once completing her job. It was the day her nii-san was supposed to return. The job request had taken a lot longer than she had planned so she had thought to ask Master if Naruto had stopped by yet. She hadn't even thought to look around but as soon as she heard his voice she knew he had indeed kept his promise to come back. Finally having turned around she took in the appearance of the one that had helped free everyone from the tower and brought her to Fairy Tail.

She took in his appearance, as he stood near the entrance of the guild. From the black loose pants that were tied off at the legs with white bandages, sturdy looking sandals on his feet. To the white short sleeved shirt with flames on the sleeves and an orange swirl on the front, also wearing fingerless gloves and two wrist bands. All the way to his messy golden hair framing his face, framing his eyes, both of them. She gasped as she noticed the same eyes staring back at her that she now saw in the mirror on her own face. (1)

"Nii-san. You're back. What happened to your eyes!"

Grinning at the look of surprise on her face, Naruto walked over to her and wrapped her in a hug. "Well we can talk about all that and more once we get somewhere a little more private Erza-chan."

Looking around, Erza realized that everyone in the guild was looking at her and Naruto now with interest. She glared at them and was satisfied with the way they all quickly averted their gazes.

Chuckling Naruto just shook his head in amusement before taking a hold of her shoulders and saying **"Hiraishin"**

When Erza looked up at him to ask what he had said, she gasped in shock because they were now by the lake shore she had often visited in the last month. She didn't notice as Naruto picked up a kunai he had implanted there earlier as she was busy rubbing her eyes making sure this was real. Naruto walked over to a patch of grass and sat down, patting the ground right next to him for her to sit too.

"Come over here and tell me what I've missed this month imouto." Erza beamed at his reminder that he fully accepted his new role in her life.

For the next hour, Erza recounted the various simple jobs she'd been on with the guild. She told him of her training with Master to control her magic and of her visit to Polyusica to check on her eye. She didn't want to tell him that she had yet to make any friends here but it didn't matter since she was sure that would come with time. As she finished telling him of her latest job, she then asked him what he had done in her absence.

Naruto too told her of his travels. He told her how he searched for his friend hoping to find him. Ignoring her snickers whenever he told of getting lost he told her of his time in the library. Naruto mentioned meeting Ultear but didn't think to elaborate on it as to him it was just a standard to tease and talk to girls. Although he wasn't known as a ladies man, he certainly did attract their attention in Konoha. He ended by pulling out a copy of the files he had given to Makarov and handed them to her for her to read.

"Before I left, Master Makarov asked me to get you some paperwork to file for the guild. It took a pinch of trickery and a dash of deceit but I managed to register a birth certificate and all the necessary paperwork with the government. I also obtained some papers for me." Stopping at this point as he noticed she had tears in her eyes after reading through all the paper work he decided to get to the reason he brought her all the way out here.

In a gentle but low tone of voice he voiced his concerns "I know I should have asked you sooner Erza-chan. What with you being given the name Scarlet by Jellal and not knowing what it was before that. But since you called me nii-san I decided to list the two of us as family. Your name hasn't changed. I can't take that right away from you. You are still Erza Scarlet born on October 1st x765."

Naruto let out a sigh as he hoped what came next wouldn't upset her. "I hope you aren't mad that I listed myself as Naruto Scarlet born October 10th x763 and the last living member of your family. Erza... Erza, please say something. If you really don't like it I can go back and change my name. I can remove the part of us being in the same family and siblings. You can be emancipated instead of being in my care."

Frantically shaking her head no, Erza decided to do away with any fears Naruto had. "S-sorry nii-san. I'm not mad at this. I'm just so happy and grateful that you wanted to be and listed yourself as my brother. Does this mean you're going to stay nii-san?"

Looking into her eyes and seeing nothing but yearning and hope staring back Naruto knew there was only one answer to that question. Grinning widely and putting a hand on her shoulder he exclaimed "Of course I'm staying Erza-chan. I have to take care of my imouto don't I? I'll make sure you brush your teeth, bathe regularly, make your bed and clean up after yourself everyday. Eating three square meals a day and enjoying the wonders known as ramen. I'll even have you eat some of those gross vegetables since apparently they're good for you. Bleh!"

Giggling at the enthusiasm Naruto showed, Erza felt happier than she had ever felt before. Crashing into him much like she had on the boat a month ago, she couldn't help but let out a few tears of joy. Pulling herself back and looking him in the eye she asked the one question that had been bugging her since she first took off her bandages and looked in the mirror.

"Naruto nii-san. Did you really give me an eye like Master Makarov said so? And how come your one eye is blue and the other brown like mine?"

Smiling softly at her and picking her up so they could walk back to the guild Naruto answered her on the way. "I promised I'd protect you Erza and take care of you. I was already kind of your brother because of that. A brother will do anything to help his little sister, even if it means giving her an eye. As for why its brown. Well, I just needed to make it official that you're my sister."

Hearing this made her next action completely justified to Erza. She went up to him and smacked him across the back of his head, hard. "Master didn't tell me, but I bet what you did was really dangerous. There's no way its easy to just give away an eye and get a new one. But thank you nii-san. Just don't do anything that dangerous again."

Kurama chuckled at this and decided to add in his own comments **'Told you chibi-Kushina would be mad.'**

_'If you say I told you so one more time, I'm going to take up rapping just to annoy you like Bee did with Hachibi.'_

Entering the guild once more Naruto went up to what looked like a completely drunk Master. He was on top of the bar dancing and waving his mug around while singing with a red tinge on his face. Deciding to enjoy it for the moment, Naruto waited until the song was over. This was going to take some getting used to after ANBU, but then again, Naruto always felt that those guys could have given even Neji a run for his money back when he had a tremendous stick shoved up his ass.

Noticing that both of the Scarlet siblings had entered the hall and were waiting for him Makarov addressed them. "Naruto, so have you decided on joining yet! Come on now. Its not official until you have a drink with me."

Naruto could only chuckle at the similarities to Gamabunta that Makarov just portrayed. "Yes Master. I've decided to join Fairy Tail if you'll let me."

"Great news! Now then where would you like your guild mark placed my boy? Pick a color any color. You look like the type that would enjoy having it on your lower back in the middle. Hahaha" Makarov nearly fell off of the bar at the image of Naruto having a tramp stamp of Fairy Tail.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Master." Naruto responded in a deadpan tone of voice. "If it isn't too much trouble though, I'd like it in orange and on my right forearm."

Makarov pulled out the Fairy stamper and was confused when a Fairy Tail tattoo didn't pop up after he pressed it down. Deciding to keep trying to see what was wrong he didn't notice the look of understanding flash across Naruto's face.

**'Must be because you don't actually have any magic. I think that stamp somehow connects to your magic, so that the guilds can keep track of their mages. While I can't give you chakra just yet I should be able to give you a small dose of magic, hopefully enough for the stamp to stick and not fade away.'**

_'Thanks Kurama. I'll have to ask about that sometime. For now I'll just make do with this stamp and if it fades I'll draw it back on later or something.'_

"Ah finally. My aim must be off with this thing. No more beer. Wine only from now on for me! Now that that's done, what are you going to do now Naruto." Makarov asked as he tossed his mug at some random wizard, starting an entirely new fight in the guild hall.

A smirk crossed his face as Naruto answered. "Well Master, I think its high time I start doing some jobs. I was checking them out earlier and found one that's just perfect for me and Erza-chan to do together. It'll give me some time to catch up with her and see how good she is."

"Oh and what request was that?" Makarov asked.

"A simple bodyguard mission. We have to protect this archaeologist guy transporting an important artifact to Era. Piece of cake." Naruto responded. After Makarov wished them luck he walked over to Erza and they both traveled to Magnolia station to meet with the client in Hargeon Town.

_**'Heres hoping this escort mission doesn't turn out like his first one out of Konoha. Stupid brat doesn't have me to fall back on anymore. Bah who cares. Maybe he'll take my words seriously from now on if he loses a finger or something.' **_Kurama mused quietly to himself.

**A/N** Next chapter the Scarlet soon to be Storm Siblings first team mission! As for Ultear, I realize she may be a bit OOC, but she's also a lot younger than in canon. She has some time to grow into that role. Now sorry about the delayed posting, so I would like to ask if anyone would care to take on the role of being my beta reader. I can't guarantee I'll post significantly quicker updates, but I'm sure they will have fewer mistakes.

(1) If you want to get an idea of what Naruto's clothes look like I have embedded with permission from the very talented artist, a drawing of the outfit Naruto is wearing. Just imagine the same outfit on a young Naruto.

Tajuu Kage Bunshin: Multi Shadow Clone

Hiraishin: Flying Thunder God


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N** I'm sorry if for some people the story is moving along slowly, but I want to make sure Naruto actually changes things in the timeline, not just plays a supporting role or acts as background audience in the future. So I need to show him actually doing something before canon events start. Anyways, I will once again thank anyone and everyone that has reviewed since my last chapter. I really appreciate it, thank you.

"normal speech"

_'inner speech/thoughts or flashback'_

"**jutsu or magic"**

**'Kurama speaking'**

Disclaimer: I do not own either Fairy Tail or Naruto. Just dabble with the works a bit

**Chapter 4**

"So did you pack plenty of food?" A break in the silence and calm atmosphere of the woods a group of travelers were walking though.

"Yes." An exasperated voice answered.

"Good. How about a sleeping bag? Weapons and money? Toothbrush? Are you going to give me the answer to that question I asked?"

"For the last time nii-san! Yes I brought everything you said. Even if I didn't, isn't it a bit late to ask now!? Half way through the job we picked? We've been on the road to Era all day without seeing any store to resupply or anything. And no I won't answer you're dumb question from earlier." Erza groused, after having Naruto nitpick and interrogate her packing skills for the job request.

Naruto just huffed, crossed his arms and looked away. "Well excuse me for worrying Erza-chan,"

"Will you two please keep quiet! We took this road so we wouldn't be noticed. At the rate you're going we'll have every bandit and crook in the country after us." The elderly client interrupted the latest of the spats between the two Fairy Tail wizards. She had originally requested a team of about three or four to accompany her. At first refusing to believe that the guild would send two young children to fulfill the request put in. It wasn't until Naruto performed his copy magic skills that she allowed them to leave for Era.

Having spoken her opinion, everyone's attention was then diverted to the source of a thud heard a few paces in front of them. The noise had originated from a body being dropped carelessly and brought to their attention. Someone, tied up and obviously beaten quite badly had been all but gift wrapped for them and dropped on the road. Before any questions could be asked a perfect replica of Naruto jumped out of the tree line and landed right behind the captive.

"This is the third one so far boss. There's two more waiting ahead, like a hundred meters up the road. Do you want us to take care of them or let them be?" The clone asked his creator while dusting off his hands. It acted as if taking down bandits was of no big concern.

"What do you mean it's the third one?" Asked the elder client, before turning and facing the original young wizard. "We should of course avoid the ambush they have set up ahead of us. I suggest we backtrack a little and make it to Era later tonight."

Naruto only shrugged indifferently before replying. "You're the boss. I'll just have a clone wait with you here so you don't engage the bandits while me and Erza-chan go ahead and beat them up. This is the third time a team of crooks have tried to ambush us and take away our cargo so we might as well take them out now."

Walking off to confront the bandits he casually calls out the answer to her first question without looking back. "My clones have taken up a perimeter around us since before we met up in Hargeon Town. This is the third attempt by a group of bandits to ambush and steal your artifacts. This group got closer than the others so I feel we should take care of them now and discourage another attempt instead of just running away.

Erza could only nod grimly in approval and take her place at Naruto's side before starting to walk towards the hiding bandits. Even though Naruto acted carefree and goofy all the time, she knew he could be serious and downright scary if need be. Throwing around magic attacks like nothing, as evidenced in the Tower of Heaven, surely marked him as a strong wizard not to be messed with.

Setting her jaw firmly, Erza resolved not to disappoint her nii-san. _'I have to be strong, just like Naruto-aniki. I won't disappoint him.'_

Glancing at the serious expression on Erza's face, Naruto decided to use this opportunity to gauge her strength. She may have a sword but he didn't know how skilled she was with it. Not to mention knowing very little of her magic.

Besides, they were only going against some bandits. This would be a good test of her skills, he would of course only allow her to fight one at a time but this was as controlled a fight as he could make it. Slowing their pace as they approach the aforementioned ambush point, Naruto pushes Erza forward and speaks reassuringly to her, "You're up Erza-chan. Focus on your opponent and show me what you got. Everything else will be taken care of."

Only nodding to show she understood, Erza ran towards the first person to jump out of the trees and get in their way. Before the male bandit could do little more than stick his hand out and call for them to halt he is plowed into by an overly serious looking eleven year old.

Naruto stays back a few steps and only glances at the other two bandits rushing out of the woods to help their partner in crime. He casually grabs two kunai from his leg pouch and tosses them at the two bandits. They skid to a stop from the kunai barely missing them and turn to glare at him. Naruto smirks in their direction before slowly walking forwards while cracking his knuckles.

Bandit on the left speaks up angry at this little kid daring to interfere in their work. "Whats the big idea runt. You wanna get your face beaten in or something."

Bandit number two only smirks evilly in agreement. "Lets just finish these brats up quick before we head after that woman they're protecting."

One of them pulls out a sword while the other pulls out a club from behind his back. Deciding not to engage in a battle of words with these two Naruto only pulls out one more kunai. All the while looking over at Erza to see how she's doing.

Not surprisingly, she is overpowering her opponent. Although Naruto can see the beginnings of a sword style, for the most part she seems be swinging wildly and relying on brute strength. Making a mental note to go through some basic sword katas with her he focuses back on his situation.

Taking care of the thugs provided little more difficulty than when he had to capture the Daimyo's cat as a genin. The entire ordeal takes little more than five minutes for him and Erza to wrap up. He only toyed with them long enough for Erza to finish them off one by one. After Erza knocks out the last of the group and ties him up Naruto speaks up.

"Good job Erza-chan. Your sword work is a little rough around the edges though, so we'll work on that."

Erza blushes slightly in embarrassment and shuffles her feet before Naruto continues his assessment.

"Still, you're loads better than I was when I first used a sword. Lucky for both of us, I had to receive a little bit of sword training back home, so I can help you improve on that front. I need to get back into proper shape too, I've been a bit lazy lately. Lets head back and complete this job so we can go home."

After Naruto piles all the bandits on top of each other under a tree he starts walking off to head back to their client.

Erza sweatdrops and rushes after him. Pulling on his arm to get him to stop, she explains what she's doing after he turns around and looks questioningly at her. "Nii-san, you're heading the wrong way! Asami-san is in the opposite direction." She points down the road towards their waiting client.

Naruto stares at her, a blank look on his face once again. Erza resists the urge to palm her face in annoyance at the clueless look on her aniki's face. "Asami-san is the customer. The one we've been protecting the last couple days."

"Oh, the bossy lady. Sorry about that Erza-chan. Her name must have slipped my mind. Doesn't help that I thought she was a he at first either." Naruto says as he rubs the back of his head in embarrassment.

After meeting up with Asami, the trio once more took off towards Era. Everything seemed to be coming along smoothly until they reached a rickety bridge joining one end of a canyon to another. A canyon they absolutely had to cross to reach Era. The gap between the two cliff sides amounted to about thirty or forty meters, too far to even attempt a jump if not inclined to use the bridge. A raging and violent river could be heard down on the canyon floor and only served to emphasize how dangerous this could be.

"Well I think we should take this bridge one person at a time." Their client spoke up, deciding to take charge.

"Once I reach Era I'll put in a work order to get this bridge fixed up. In the mean time, lets not take any unnecessary risks on crossing." No sooner had Asami said this when Naruto, with a running start, leapt into the gorge.

Gasping and cursing the recklessness of youth, Asami could only hope he lived and was ok. Especially considering he was the one carrying the priceless archaeological artifacts her team had uncovered. Running to look over the edge of the canyon she was very surprised to find him sticking to the walls like some sort of spider. He was sticking straight out from the walls little more than a foot below Erza and Asami.

"What are you doing nii-san?" Erza asked curiously, peering over the edge next to Asami. Unlike Asami though, she seemed to think this sort of thing was normal for all mages and was completely calm. Maybe she'd learn it herself one day, besides, she knew Naruto must have had a reason to jump over onto the rock walls.

"I'm making a better bridge. I don't know how long it'll last though so stand back." Flashing through numerous hand seals he slammed his hands onto the rock wall before calling out his technique.

"**Doton: Doryuuheki"**

A massive slab of earth erupted underneath Naruto and stretched all the way to the other side of the canyon. After this, Naruto dropped off the wall and landed a ways below his newly created stone walkway. Once he stuck to the wall again he called out to his companions above. "I'm not done yet. I have to reinforce the bridge."

Naruto went through a few more hand seals and called out his second technique needed to complete the bridge.

"**Doton: Ganchuso"**

Making sure that his technique didn't have sharp ends and instead only erupted under the bridge as pillars to hold the weight up on both ends, he then ran up the canyon wall and landed next to Erza.

"It should be fine now. Lets go. I didn't really trust that last bridge so I thought that I would make a sturdier one." Erza and Naruto stepped onto the bridge and walked to the other side. It wasn't until they arrived there that they noticed their third traveler hadn't come with them.

"Asami-san. Are you coming? You're not afraid of heights are you?" Erza called out innocently, after seeing their client gaping in disbelief after what had just occurred.

Shaking herself out of her stupor, Asami quickly joined the Fairy Tail wizards on the other side. The rest of their journey to Era was relatively boring for some and rightfully peaceful for others.

Asami could only shake her head at their method of crossing the canyon. Earth style mages weren't exactly rare, but them using their abilities outside of combat was. Combine that with his already impressive clone magic and this young wizard was full of surprises. Most wizards simply didn't think to use their power to accomplish something as simple as crossing a bridge. To see one so young throwing around spells, powerful ones too, like that was surprising and impressive.

* * *

After they reached Era, Asami led the duo to the Magic Council headquarters located on the tall rocky mountain in the middle of town. Headquarters in Era were truly a sight to behold. Resembling an ancient castle more than anything else, the building was both beautiful and imposing when looked at. Brightly lit hallways, and marble clad floors showed off the wealth the council surrounded itself in.

Asami led them past the guards at the gates and straight to the central office on the first floor of the building. She called for one of the amphibious employees to lead Naruto to the storage area for the artifacts. Asami also gave directions for Erza to head to the payment office for the job, while she stayed behind and signed all the necessary paperwork that needed to be filled in.

As he was led away from Asami, Naruto couldn't help but stare at his guide. He realized that at this point in his career there should be little that surprised him, but sometimes even he was left speechless. _'This is one freaky looking dude. Here I thought magic couldn't get any crazier. I wonder if this is one of Gamakichi's long lost relatives or something. You'd think that after seeing crazy magic things all month I'd be used to this by now but noooo.'_

"We are here Scarlet-san" Naruto's guide said to him after opening a massive metal door into a warehouse sized room. "If you wouldn't mind satisfying my curiosity, Scarlet-san. I was under the impression that the artifacts would be quite large and not something you can carry around in a travel bag like you seem to be doing. Could you show them to me before putting them away?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at this odd request. He then remembered where he had put what he referred to as 'dirty old pieces of junk and rocks' before embarking on their journey. Putting his bag down, he searched through his things until he found the particular scroll where he had sealed the stuff in.

Rolling it open and after releasing a burst of chakra, a cloud of smoke fills the air revealing a large jade dragon and several slabs filled with ancient runes and hieroglyphics. Chuckling at the astonished expression on the guides face, Naruto then put away the artifacts in their reserved areas before leaving in search of Erza.

* * *

As Naruto was being led away, towards the subterranean storage areas of the Archaeological section of the Magic Council, Erza was navigating the first floor hallways to find the payment office. While she would never allow herself to think that she was as bad at directions as Naruto, even she was starting to get annoyed at not finding the payment office. Hallway after hallway, door after door, they all looked the same to her.

_'You'd think the council would have a little more originality when decorating around here. Oh, nii-san will never let me live this down if I end up getting lost just like him.'_ Erza internally wailed.

After wandering around for a few more minutes, Erza finally spotted someone exiting an office with a stack of files and headed somewhere else. Hurrying to catch up to her and get proper directions, Erza called out to the teenage girl who looked only slightly older than her.

"Excuse me miss. I hate to bother you, but I was wondering if you could point me to the payment office. You see, we just helped escort some important artifacts for the history department and now we need to receive our payment so we can leave." Erza hastily explained hoping this girl would help and not just ignore her.

Said brown eyed girl turned and merely stared at the red head in front of her. Debating on whether it was worth her time to help or not she carefully took in her appearance. Slightly impressed, despite herself, Ultear respected the fact that this girl wasn't fidgeting in her presence or put off by her cool stare.

"My name is Ultear, I am an Administrative Intern for the Magic Council. Follow me and I'll lead you to the payment office." Stopping only long enough to make sure Erza understood her, Ultear turned on her heel and lead her up several floors and hallways towards the payment office.

Deciding to try and find out some information, Ultear struck up a casual conversation with the girl following along behind her. "Tell me- ah I don't believe I caught your name?"

"Erza Scarlet, from Fairy Tail, Ultear-san." Erza answered.

Ultear having recognized the name after hearing it only a few days ago chose to glance back and take in this girls appearance once again. Only now noticing the unique set of eyes staring back at her, Ultear scolded herself for not picking up and connecting who this was sooner.

"Ah yes, Erza. So tell me, Erza. What is it that you are doing here in Era? I believe I heard you say 'we' earlier as well, did you not come alone?" Ultear asked in a deceptively casual tone of voice.

The only reason a guild wizard would be here was a delivery job or escort job that one of the council's departments didn't want the Rune Knights to waste their time on. This would usually be of no concern to her, but she still liked to keep an eye out in case the government ever stumbled upon an artifact that could be of use to her or her own guild.

"We had to deliver some artifacts that Asami-san found on dragon history, I believe she said. I'm not exactly sure what they are, she didn't tell us much. I didn't come alone, I'm actually here with my nii-san and we are only waiting to get paid before we leave again." Erza seemed to be staring off into space trying to remember something and only answered Ultear's question absentmindedly as she was following along behind her.

"You're onii-san. His name wouldn't happen to be Naruto would it? I think I've met him before. You both have a unique set of eyes." Ultear asked as she slowed down to open another door leading them to their destination.

A look of recognition appeared on her face and Erza happily answered. "You know Naruto-aniki! That's right, he did mention meeting a girl named Ultear in a library a few days ago." She then ducked her head and murmured a few more words that Ultear couldn't quite catch.

Ultear tried and failed to suppress the small smile on her face after hearing that Naruto had spoken of her to Erza. The day after having met Naruto, Ultear tried to look up any information available on him that he had registered in order to be allowed into the library. Imagine her surprise when no records of him being granted a pass showed up. Luckily she found out some basic information on him that he'd registered with the government, including his name, age, and available family.

What had really impressed her though, was that he was able to sneak in and research in the normally, heavily restricted and patrolled library. Apparently he wasn't one to blindly follow the rules if he needed something badly enough. Perhaps meeting Erza, provided an alternative opportunity to gaining his trust and using him for her plans.

She finally worked that smile off her face and turned to ask Erza one more question. "What did he say about me."

An embarrassed look graced Erza's features and she looked away slightly before mumbling her answer.

Even though she didn't quite hear Erza's answer, her body language conveyed to Ultear exactly what Naruto must have said to her. Freezing in her steps, Ultear rounded on Erza and tried to reign in both her temper and embarrassment. "I don't care what he said. I am not a pervert, do you understand me? Nor am I excessively violent, or unfriendly!"

Chuckling nervously, Erza could only nod in agreement as the air around Ultear had turned ominous and imposing after she had obviously guessed what Naruto told her. "Sure thing Ultear-san. I didn't believe him anyways. I'll be sure to tell him not to lie about other people."

"See that you do." Ultear remarked before coming to a stop in front of a nondescript door with a plaque saying it was the payment office on it.

"Well just walk in and let them know you are done. Asami-san will have filed all the proper paperwork already to confirm a completed job request. I will let you see yourself out, as I am fairly busy and have some work of my own to do."

She was halfway out the door before deciding to act on this new opportunity as it was presented to her. "If you are ever in Era again, specifically the Magic Council headquarters, and are in need of assistance just find me and I will aid you in what I can. I can already tell you will make quite a name for yourself Erza, you and your brother both."

Walking out the door she didn't bother to look back to see what Erza would do. Ultear smirked and congratulated herself on enacting a plan that would surely benefit her in the future. _'If I can get his own sister to approve of me and manipulate her, there's no telling what I can get Naruto to do. Now then Naruto, the ball is in your court. Prove to me that my interest in you is not misplaced. Make a name for yourself so you can have the honor of helping me in the future.'_

As Ultear walked out the door, Erza counted herself lucky that she had met a potential ally in the ruling body of the government. _'Ultear-san is nice, but I don't think I'll say anything to Naruto-aniki for now. He needs to learn not to exaggerate stories about other people. Who better to teach him than the very person he lied about, I'll just let them work it out if they ever meet again.'_

* * *

T n T

* * *

**Magnolia Town 2 days later**

"We're finally home. Lets go celebrate completing our first successful job Eza-chan. To a ramen shop." Naruto exclaimed loudly, stepping off the train in Magnolia Station and into the hustle and bustle of the crowd.

Before he could take off and possibly get lost on his search for food, Erza decided to intervene. "We should check in with Master Makarov first nii-san. Then we can either go on another mission or maybe we could look at places to stay at now that you're staying here."

She was happy he already considered Magnolia home, and she hoped that she'd be able to see it as home now that he was here to stay too. Formerly it had seemed more of a temporary stop since Naruto had left her there and she awaited his return.

"Eh? What do you mean 'we', aren't you staying in Fairy Hills Erza-chan? I'm sure I can camp out in the woods for a few days while I find a place for myself." Naruto said as he was walking in and out of the crowd of people.

Erza winced slightly at the perceived dismissal of her hopes. She had hoped that Naruto would be willing and happy to live with her. Before she could retract or defend what she was saying though, Naruto spoke up again.

"Lets go eat at the guild and then you can help me find a place to stay." Looking back to make sure Erza was following him, Naruto smiled at seeing her mood lift a bit.

"I need at least a two person place so my imouto can have a place to stay whenever she visits. Who knows, maybe one day I'll find she completely moved in, if and only if she didn't like her old place." He offered teasingly.

Smiling widely now, Erza hurried to Naruto's side and grabbed his hand, dragging him off to Fairy Tail as soon as possible. The sooner they ate and got everything done, the sooner she could convince him she should stay with him for good.

When they reached Fairy Tail, Erza pulled Naruto along to the bar to place an order for some food. Having that done, she dragged him off to a corner table for two, believing he didn't notice how she ignored nearly everyone that was staring at her. In truth, Erza spent very little time at the guild. Usually busy out doing jobs, or training, she was seen as a very private person and most could respect that.

Gray Fullbuster, unfortunately, was not one of those that could. Once again he caught a glimpse of that red haired newbie that had yet to try and make friends with anyone in the guild. Even though she was rarely in the guild, he felt that she should at least make an effort to get to know the people her age better. Especially a wizard as powerful as he. He sat at a table with two others his age and was debating on what he should do while looking over at the two newcomers to the guild.

"The guild is as loud as ever guys. Hey, I wonder who that blonde guy is sitting over there with the new girl." voiced a young Levy McGarden. Levy is one of the few young members of Fairy Tail. Wearing a yellow tank top and shorts, the most notable trait she has is her short blue hair. Known for her cheerful and upbeat personality, she would like nothing better than to get to know Erza, but she just hadn't had the time to do so just yet, often out on jobs of her own and never running into Erza.

"She's always by herself, isn't she? I remember Master Makarov accepted a new member a little while ago. I think it was that guy she's with now." Cana Alberona answered Levy. Brown hair tied into a high ponytail with bangs framing her face and wearing a yellow checkered sundress, Cana had been at Fairy Tail the longest amongst the children. Another one of the unfortunate orphans to have joined Fairy Tail, she too had tried to make friends with Erza. Like the few others before her though, she had also been completely ignored by the crimson haired girl.

"Well, I don't like it when any newcomer doesn't introduce themselves to me, the great Gray." Boasted Gray Fullbuster, a dark haired boy with a questionable stripping habit. A habit he enacted all too often, as even now he was clad in only his boxer shorts and nothing else.

Cana threw him an incredulous look. "Since when did you start being such hot stuff Gray?"

Levy frowned as Gray got up from his seat and started walking over to the two who had just received their food. "Don't do anything dumb Gray. Be nice, they're both new to the guild, Master wouldn't like it if we tried to bully them."

Ignoring their complaints Gray arrived at Naruto and Erza's side. "Hey you!"

Naruto ignored him, seeing as he was busy eating food and had been scolded by Erza not to talk with his mouth full. Not only that, but he was interested in seeing how little Erza would react. He had noticed how she took them and sat them apart from anyone else in the guild. How she had at first sat here with a relaxed air around her, but now she tensed and adopted a detached persona to deal with this person.

**'What did you expect brat. She lived as a slave for who knows how long. She was tortured and had her eye removed. Leaving her alone and taking off for a month would do little to help her overcome whatever walls she's built up to protect herself.'** Kurama growled out. He too had noticed how Erza had reacted, and although he would never admit it, he had taken an interest in her welfare. Mostly because of how she acted around Naruto, it amused him how she kept him in line.

Inwardly nodding at what Kurama had said, Naruto decided he would sit back and see where this was going. _'Its unfortunate that I had to leave her alone, but we both know it was necessary. She's my imouto now though, so I will watch out for her and protect her. I have plenty of time to spend with her now, I know she won't change overnight so I'll take my time with her.'_

By this point Gray was getting fed up with the silence. So looking them both over for anything he could say next, he decided Erza was the easier of the two to pick on. "This is a wizards guild. It ain't a place to be wearing armor!"

Naruto looked over at Erza, seeing she hadn't reacted yet he shrugged and leaned back into his chair to enjoy the show. He did make a mental note to find a tailor and order some vests to be made for himself. After going years wearing armored vests of both ANBU and jounin he felt vulnerable without one.

Once again hearing no response from either of them, Gray lashed out with his foot looking to kick their table over and get a reaction.

Instead, faster than he could see, his leg was stopped mid swing. His other leg was kicked out from under him and as he was falling he was flipped over onto his stomach with his arms ripped backwards and held behind him so he couldn't prevent his fall. Landing hard and painfully, he wondered if he had made a mistake in trying to intimidate either one of them.

Sitting on top of an incapacitated Gray, Naruto decided to finally speak up. "You know, its quite rude of you to interrupt our meal. More so if you don't know the person you're interrupting, and judging from Erza-chans reaction, you don't know either one of us. Maybe you should apologize eh? Ero-teme."

Erza stood and motioned for Naruto to get off Gray, allowing him to sit up. "Maybe you should wear something yourself knave, last I heard this wasn't a perverts guild."

The members of the guild that had been watching this confrontation all erupted into laughter. Some of the older members even getting a few shots in on Gray, obviously believing he had stepped out of line.

Levy and Cana rushed over to Gray to see if he was hurt and stop him from doing anything to further humiliate himself. Gray just stood and stomped out the doors of the guild. Angry at how easily he'd been taken down and embarrassed at what had happened only moments ago.

Levy just watched him go, giving him some space to cool off. She turned to the two who'd embarrassed her friend and hurriedly apologized. "I'm sorry about Gray. He gets a little hot headed sometimes, and in his own way he just wanted to introduce himself to the two of you. I'm Levy McGarden."

Cana introduced herself next, "Cana Alberona. I'm sorry about Gray too. I didn't think he'd react like that."

Looking over at Erza, Naruto noted she wouldn't do anything unless he acted first. He sighed and stuck his hand out to shake both of theirs. "Naruto Scarlet, nice to meet you."

Erza stepped up next to present herself, "Erza Scarlet, pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Wide eyed and nearly bouncing with happiness, Levy stared back and forth between the two. "So thats why you've been so quiet lately Erza-san! You were just waiting for your onii-san to show up and join us here in Fairy Tail. I can totally see the resemblance between the two of you."

Erza developed a tic mark over her eye, not quite knowing how to feel after only interacting a short while with the excitable bluenette.

Bursting out in laughter at the look on Erza's face, Naruto hurriedly threw an arm over her shoulder and pinched her cheek. "Is that so imouto. You've been moody and grumpy when I wasn't here? Well don't worry about it anymore. The great and powerful Naruto Scarlet is here to stay!"

Erza merely huffed and tried to act as if Naruto was annoying her. She crossed her arms and turned away, but not before everyone caught a glimpse of the smile on her face. Even if it wasn't much, she enjoyed the little moments where Naruto stated with certainty that they were family now, and she would put up with his teasing on those occasions.

Cana merely smiled at the familial interaction between the two. "Well, now that Gray is gone. Would you two like to join us for lunch? I think we should get to know each other better now that we are all a part of Fairy Tail."

Knowing that Erza wasn't quite so comfortable with that idea, Naruto chose to decline for the both of them. "Sorry Cana, but we have to go look at apartments and places for me to stay. Maybe some other time neh? I kind of wanted to get some training in too, before we left for that."

Crestfallen at this answer but hoping Erza would be more open now that Naruto was around Levy and Cana just agreed with what he said. Quickly giving directions to East Forest so they could train, Levy waved goodbye at them as they left the guild.

* * *

The wizard duo found themselves a clearing a ways into the forest where they could properly train. There was plenty of open space, a few trees and boulders for cover, and a river nearby for any Suiton jutsu Naruto wanted to use. Looking around in satisfaction at where he was, Naruto turned to Erza to begin their training.

"How did you want to start our training nii-san. I'm not an earth mage or a fire mage, but I can spar with you if you want? Master Makarov mostly makes me meditate and do little things to control my magic, but I'm sure you know some of those already, so can you show me anything else?" Erza asked, curious as to how powerful and advanced Naruto really was. She remembered what he did at the Tower of Heaven and later on at the canyon to cross it.

Naruto smirked and put his hands together into the dog seal. A fierce wind began whipping around his body before concentrating on his fist. He took a step to the left and then thrust his fist towards a huge boulder away and to the side of Erza while calling out his technique.

"**Futon: Senpuuken"**

The wind launched from his fist tore the ground apart on its way to the boulder. Once it reached the rock, it tore it apart completely, cutting it to pieces and going straight through, not stopping even after it cut through several trees in the distance.

"Who said I'm an earth or fire mage? My specialty and the element I have complete mastery of is actually wind." Naruto said to a wide eyed Erza.

Grinning from ear to ear at her expression, Naruto continued his explanation. "I don't know if you picked up on it before Erza, but I'm not a wizard or mage. I'm actually a shinobi. I have seen wizards do some amazing things with magic this past month, not the least of which was you at the Tower. The thing that stood out the most to me though, was the fact that they are very specialized with magic."

"Shinobi, while restricted to five elements plus the illusionary arts, have a more diverse field to pick from when it comes to attacks. There are earth, water, wind, fire, and lightning techniques one can learn. There's more to it than that but I don't want to get too specific since it'll take too long. As for me, I have mastered wind, am really good at lightning, and can do several techniques of each element in fire, earth and water."

"Wow... So coooool Naruto-aniki!" Erza jumped up and down. She rushed over to him and began looking him over as if he were a new toy.

"Can you teach me any of those things aniki? Can you please!" She asked wide eyed and with her hands clasped together in a begging position.

Naruto was happy that she acted her age around him, he much preferred this Erza to the one she showed in Fairy Tail or to clients. He couldn't let her dreams get ahead of herself however. "I'll try Erza-chan, but there's no guarantee it'll work. Shinobi train to use these techniques since they are six years old, you might be past the age where you can do it anymore. I promise that we'll try either way, and besides, there's plenty of other things I can teach you besides ninjutsu."

Erza sighed but didn't let herself feel down about this. "Naruto-aniki, you haven't told me much about where you came from or anything before we met. Is any of that going to be a part of training?"

Naruto gave her a grin before replying, "If I tell you too much at a time, you'll probably forget it all. Plus my old job required I maintain certain amounts of secrecy on certain missions I undertook. But if you want, I'll answer one question a day truthfully and to satisfy your curiosity on the condition that you don't tell anyone else what we talk about. We'll call them family secrets ok?"

**'Careful brat. Just because you want to be open with her doesn't mean it won't have its consequences. Make sure you only tell her what she can handle. Don't traumatize chibi-Kushina over there with your war stories or I'll make sure to give you nightmares every night of those two green suited, furry eyebrow freaks.'**

Nodding resolutely, Erza replied in a serious tone of voice. "Of course, you can count on me nii-san. Family secrets will stay in the family."

In a flash Naruto was by Erza's side pinching and pulling at her cheeks again. "Oh your so cute when you try and be serious Erza-chan. I only do this so we can work better together on jobs and during training that requires trust."

Slapping his hands away, Erza asked a question she had long been curious about. "So what does that tattoo on your left shoulder mean then nii-san? When I first saw it, I thought it was a guild mark."

Naruto smirked as he looked at Erza and wagged a finger in her face. "Nuh uh Erza-chan. I'll only tell you that if you tell me where you put your own guild mark and why. I've been bugging you about it for days now and you still haven't budged."

Erza blushed as she realized she'd probably be teased mercilessly about this. Shuffling her feet and rocking back and forth nervously she finally blurted out her answer. "Its on my left shoulder just like your cool tattoo is. I put it there because I want to be just like you nii-san and I hoped that you would come back for sure if I tried and grew up to be as strong as you are."

Astonishment then pride were the looks flowing across Naruto's face after hearing that. Leaning forward a bit and looking her straight in the eye, he tried to wordlessly convey feelings of pride and joy to her, no teasing or anything else involved.

"Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokusho Butai, or ANBU for short." revealed Naruto, "we are the shinobi hand picked by our Kage or village leader for our individual capabilities and special skills. We are the best of the best amongst our peers and specialize in espionage, infiltration, counter intelligence, sabotage and assassinations."

With a gesture at his shoulder he continued his breakdown of the tattoo, "This mark here, sets us apart from our peers. It signifies that we answer only to our village leader and no one else. Only the most difficult of missions in or out of the country are handed to us. A-Rank and S-Rank assignments are the typical missions we are handed, anything below that is deemed too easy to be handled by us."

Eyes wide and fit to burst out of their sockets, a gaping mouth and a long drawn out intake of air, these were all symptoms exhibited by Erza Scarlet after hearing how highly skilled the ANBU were. "Wow... Naruto-aniki you're so AWESOME!"

_'That's not quite the reaction I was expecting from her.' _Naruto thought to himself, a sweatdrop on the back of his head. Even so, he felt a great amount of amusement after watching Erza literally jump up and down with excitement from the possibility of being trained by such a powerful person.

"Indeed that is quite an impressive resume, especially for one so young. Although, I do have to wonder why you kept this to yourself earlier."

Startled out of his musings, Naruto instantly jumped away from the voice and stationed himself between Erza and whoever it was that had managed to sneak up on them. Lowering himself into a defensive position and already starting to weave hand seals for a jutsu, he waited for his unwanted guest to show himself.

Makarov Dreyar walked out of the shadows of the trees and laughed at his reaction. Waving a hand dismissively at Naruto before he started apologizing, he explained what he was doing out there. "Sorry about that kids, I didn't mean to interrupt your training but I was on my way back from visiting my good friend Porlyusica and couldn't help but overhear the last bits of your conversation."

Naruto shrugged and straightened, "That's alright Master, its our own fault for overreacting. We should have been more aware of our surroundings while starting to train."

Makarov shrugged at his reply, but noted how Naruto's first instinct was to jump in front of Erza to shield her. Inwardly pleased at how protective of her he was getting, Makarov shook it off to get to the point of why he interrupted their conversation. "I hate to ask this, as its obvious you two have yet to start training, but could you give us a moment of privacy Erza. Don't worry my child, its nothing bad, I just have a request to make of your onii-san."

Naruto tilted his head in confusion, "Why? If its nothing bad I'm sure Erza would be able to keep this to herself if you so wished."

"Perhaps, but please, consider this a personal favor to me then Erza-chan," Makarov pleaded.

Slowly looking to Naruto for confirmation, Erza nodded and started to leave the clearing. Naruto created a clone to go with her to let her know when to come back and keep her entertained in the meantime. "So I'm guessing this has to do with my ANBU status right Master? Let me assure you that our deal stands. I will not take a life or put myself in a position for that to happen so long as I am a member of Fairy Tail as per guild policy."

While Naruto was speaking, Makarov moved over to a log and took a seat. "Well I'm thankful for that, more so now than when we first agreed to it. However, this has to do with another one of your specialties in ANBU. Espionage and infiltration if I recall correctly."

Joining him in taking a seat, Naruto waited patiently for Makarov to elaborate. He could see that the Sandaime guild master of Fairy Tail was deep in thought at the moment.

"I have been hearing troubling rumors of many dark guilds all over Fiore. There is a specifc guild however that troubles me most. Not because of what I hear they plan, but because of the lack of information known about them. I find myself unsettled at not knowing what they are up to." Makarov rubbed his forehead in irritation and then chose to continue.

"By now you know what dark guilds are so that's unimportant. What I wish to ask of you, because of your skills and expertise, is to either infiltrate this guild or somehow spy and keep an eye on their movements."

Adopting a look of concentration, Naruto ran over all the pros and cons of this request. It sounded right up his alley, but he knew he needed more information. Then again, information was exactly what they didn't have and the point to this mission Makarov wanted him to take.

Eyeing him closely and noting how serious he looked, Naruto decided to take a leap of faith. "Alright Master, I'll do this. Could I ask what guild you want to keep an eye out for and who specifically I should tail?"

His face was scrunched up as he turned to face Naruto for the first time, Makarov explained things a little more in detail. "You don't have to stay there long term Naruto. Just keep an ear to the ground for their activities and every once in a while break in and do some snooping around their guild. The reason I ask this of you and wish to keep it quiet is because this would be considered an act of war from one guild to another and the Magic Council specifically forbids that. This guild however, is dangerous enough that I believe the risks involved are worth it for breaking that law. Especially since the council continues to ignore my warnings about them."

Naruto sighed and conceded the point. Sometimes, a little bit of risk would go a long way towards ensuring your safety. He knew this from personal experience, and that illegal infiltration was the bread and butter of the shinobi world.

"Very well Master, I understand. Now what guild is it and do you know who the master is so I can scope them out?" He asked.

A grave look came over his face, with a flare of pain taking hold of his eyes, Makarov remained silent for a few moments before, "The guild I want you to find and infiltrate is named Raven Tail. The guild master is none other than Ivan Dreyar... my son."

* * *

**A/N **Merry Christmas! Sorry for the long wait between updates but I have been rather busy with school and other things. Right now I am visiting my brother in Japan so December 25th is almost already over. Here is my present to those of you who have yet to truly enjoy your gifts from family. And for those few wondering about Sasuke, well I won't say anything now, he might make an appearance soon or he might not be mentioned at all until the last chapter, you'll have to wait and see.

Oh and before anyone points out or complains that Erza is OOC, I just want to note that she only acts that way around Naruto and no one else. In fact, from the few glimpses we get of her character before she gets her eye ripped out, we see she is in fact a cheerful and happy little girl. It seems natural that she wouldn't completely change if she felt comfortable around someone on the same level she had around Rob and her old friends. For the moment she acts like that around Naruto, in the future, well that's a bridge we'll cross when we get there.

Doton: Doryuuheki – Earth Style: Mud Encampment Wall

Doton: Ganchuso – Earth Style: Rock Pillar Spears

Futon: Senpuuken – Wind Style: Whirlwind Fist


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N **thanks for all the reviews! Sorry for extended absence. Enjoy this chapter and I hope it pleases those who have waited.

"normal speech"

'_thoughts or flashback'_

"**jutsu or magic"**

'**Kurama speech'**

Disclaimer: I think I've made it clear by now but I'll say it one last time, I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail

**Chapter 5**

Cries of frustration echoed and abounded all throughout the small grassy clearing Naruto and Erza trained in deep within East Forest of Magnolia. Clangs and booms of sword meeting kunai along with fists meeting armor were the most prevalent sounds. Small craters littered the clearing and obvious signs of swordplay could be gleaned from looking at the trees and boulders.

It had been a little over a month since Naruto had joined Fairy Tail and taken to training Erza with swords. While in ANBU, he had been forced to learn how to fight with and against a ninjato and the chokuto that both Sasuke and Sai favored. While he certainly wasn't at their level yet, he'd learned plenty when fighting against them. As he learned best from repeated exposure and fighting, he'd decided to do the same to Erza.

He gave her basic instructions and explained how to go about gripping the sword correctly and after that let her develop her own style. He was essentially a training dummy for her to try and hit, only he would point out any flaws in her swings or openings she left herself open to after attacking. Being able to retaliate in kind only motivated her towards improving.

In his opinion this was the best way to help her improve. Masters in the art of the sword had a sword style and thus had a set pattern to swinging it so consequently, if you were skilled enough, it meant they were predictable. Making Erza develop her own style would certainly take years upon years of effort, but the end result was well worth it in his opinion. Teaching her the basic thrusts, parries, blocks and slashes were the only things he had her memorize and practice.

"497…498…499…500!" With a yell he threw the small boulder he'd strapped to his back off after completing his last set of squats.

Looking over to his clone and Erza to see how far along they'd gotten, he was pleased to see her slash the clone across the chest and cause it to dispel back into a puddle of water. She was slowly but surely improving, now able to actually dispel his clones about once a day. Soon she'd be able to move up from weak water clones to regular shadow clones, and after that the most durable of the lot, earth clones.

Picking up a scroll and unsealing a bottle of water and a towel he headed off to see how Erza was doing. "You've gotten faster Erza-chan. Pretty soon I can start throwing jutsu at you and see how you deal with that."

Paling as if faced with an army of monsters armed with nothing but a fly swatter, Erza quickly shook her head in disagreement to that idea. "No! Just throw more clones at me and let's move on from there."

She'd already asked him to show her some of his jutsu before and she really didn't want to be on the receiving end of them. Especially not after their usual training days. Mornings started out with physical exercises to build up strength and speed, with afternoons devoted to technique and fine tuning their skills, if they didn't go out on jobs that is.

Chuckling at her gullibility, Naruto offered her a drink before leading them both under the shade of a tree. He took a seat and waited for Erza to do the same after a hard day of training. He offered her a drink of water to cool off after her hard work.

Unsure of how to start, Naruto decided to just come out with it since he'd never been the kind to tiptoe around conversation. "How come you still refuse to use magic Erza-chan? It's been a month and I still haven't seen any magic at all. I know you can use it, I was at the Tower of Heaven with you when you unlocked your potential."

Erza froze at this line of questioning, not expecting it at all. Lowering her head, she stayed silent for a moment to gather her thoughts.

Naruto wasn't going to push her and waited patiently for an answer. If he pushed too hard, she would only withdraw within herself and shut him out.

"I'm scared nii-san." she whispered.

Confused at the reply Naruto waited for her to elaborate.

"I'm scared that when I use it again I'll lose control of myself. Just like at the Tower." She explained.

Bewilderment clear on his face Naruto sat back and tried to understand what she could mean. Realization dawned on him as he remembered that almost as soon as she had first used magic he had knocked her out. He had knocked her unconscious since he thought that she wasn't fully in control of her magic yet. She had taken control of anything that resembled a weapon and had aimed it at Jellal who was her friend at the time. After that he remembered that he had set fire to the tower and left on the boats.

Erza heedless of everything Naruto was thinking about continued with her confession. "At the tower…right after I thought you had died I-I lost it. I was overcome with this feeling of total sadness and despair before rage took over. Seeing my magic react like that and controlling all those weapons it was… terrifying. What if I lost control again? That's why I haven't used magic since." _'I wouldn't be able to bear it if I lost you too nii-san, just like I lost Jellal to my power' _(1)

Understanding her situation in its entirety, Naruto sat up and pulled Erza into a hug. Her fears and emotions she'd been bottling up over the last two months were unleashed. She slowly at first but quickly gaining in intensity began to bawl her eyes out. Clutching his shirt tightly, she buried herself into his chest as if to confirm that he wasn't going anywhere.

Naruto just let her cry and uncork all the stress she'd been piling up recently. He could certainly relate to what she was saying. He'd faced a similar problem about fearing his power when he was younger. With Erza she feared her magic, while Naruto had at the time feared using Kurama's chakra and losing control.

All too clearly he remembered the incident at Tenchi Bridge where he'd gone into Version 2 tailed beast cloak. The power of Kurama's chakra had completely overwhelmed his senses and had led to him attacking even his friends, injuring Sakura in the process. So that feeling of despair followed by anger was something he was intimately familiar with, as it was the prelude to losing control of Kurama's chakra.

As Erza cried into his chest, he realized that she was terrified of her own power and that forced her to actively avoid using it. She'd been learning how to control small bits of it but never used it in combat.

It was now more than ever that he regretted taking off with Erza so quickly. If she'd been able to see that her friends were ok despite what happened with her magic maybe she'd try and use it again. Even if she didn't actively try, at least she would be more open to the idea instead of avoiding it altogether.

Of course he couldn't bring himself to tell her of Jellal. Too scared of her hating him if she found out that he killed Jellal. Sighing at his situation, he planned out what he would have to say to her.

After her crying had turned into sniffles Erza pulled away from Naruto almost ashamed that she had cried. The last thing she wanted was for him to think she was ungrateful for all he'd done and crying certainly didn't help her in that. Before she tried to apologize, Naruto spoke up.

Looking at her fondly and knowing what she wanted to do, he quickly moved to squash that line of thought. "There's nothing wrong with crying Erza-chan. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

"But I-" she tried to say.

"No buts," Naruto interjected calmly but with underlying tones of certainty, "I know exactly what it's like having untapped power that you have no control over, that you fear because it could possibly hurt those dear to you."

Glad that Naruto wasn't disappointed in her but not understanding what he meant Erza only looked at him bemusedly.

Naruto could only look at her scrunched up nose and tilted head and chuckle lightly. He had long ago explained that a chakra beast was sealed into him after she had asked how he replaced his eye. Now it seemed he would have to go more in depth on using his power aside from the healing factor. (2)

Making himself comfortable he started on his long tale of his initial experiences using Kurama's chakra. Starting with his first instances of accelerated healing all the way through his mastering it with Kirabi and Hachibi.

"… so you see Erza-chan, if you doubt your power, doubt yourself, all that will do is hurt you in the end. The falls of truth taught me that. You have to accept everything about you in order to be stronger. It is only when you accept yourself as a whole that you can truly control your power and overcome your fears."

All throughout recounting his experiences, Erza could only listen in mild wonder and shock at what he went through. Before she would have been skeptical that he would understand her in any way. He was her older brother, powerful, experienced and cheerful; she never would have expected him to have gone through something similar to her. Not only was it similar, but his own accounts were arguably worse.

Battling for your life after believing your friend died to save you, using the power to save yourself from falling to your death, once more calling upon it to fight your runaway friend and bring him back home, and the worst one was using it to battle a notorious criminal and nearly killing your teammate in the encounter after losing control.

Erza felt that Naruto truly empathized with what she went through at the Tower of Heaven.

"So what should I do then Naruto-aniki?" She asked quietly.

Looking at her after he had finished explaining his past, the blonde boy only knew of few things to help her get through this. "Look Erza-chan, I was afraid of using Kyuubi's (3) power at first because I might hurt people, but to deny such a crucial part of me meant I would've ended up hating myself. I lost control of myself a few times to his power true, but I ended up learning that it was way better to train myself so I never lost control again and hurt my friends by accident like I hurt Sakura."

As she pulled her legs to her chest Erza pondered on his words. Staying silent for a few minutes she had one more question to ask. "How can I be sure that training won't make it worse or that something won't go wrong?"

"I don't expect you to master it overnight Erza-chan, so start off small and work your way up from there. Much like I had people strong enough to do something if I ever lost control, I am strong enough to step in with you if you feel overwhelmed. Now enough of this depressing stuff let's go eat." Naruto cheerfully exclaimed before jumping to his feet.

They took a few minutes to clean up their unofficial training ground and left towards their guild to get some lunch.

* * *

Still unused to walking into a veritable party house every time they visited the guild, Naruto ignored everyone the best he could. After ordering his food and noticing that neither Levy nor Cana were around he and Erza found a table to sit at alone.

While waiting for his food to arrive Naruto absent mindedly took out a book to read. Not really paying much attention to it, he idly mused on his current financial situation. Knowing that he had enough for this month's rent but debating on whether or not he needed spare money, Naruto didn't know if he should take a job today or not.

"Yo Naruto my boy, come over here for a minute. There's someone that I want you to meet." Makarov called out, knocking him from his thoughts. He had just finished walking into the guild and spotted the blonde sitting with his sister.

A soft gasp pulled his attention to Erza. "What's the matter imouto? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"That's Gildarts Clive with the Master. He's known as the 'Ace of Fairy Tail' an S-Ranked wizard said to be on par with Master Makarov." Erza exclaimed hurriedly and with slight awe.

Slightly impressed and eager to meet another S-Class wizard he got up and walked over to Makarov. As he approached the duo he sized the new arrival up.

Tall and muscular with shoulder length reddish-orange slicked back hair, stubble around his mouth and chin, all of it blended together to make him a gruff and intimidating figure. His attire was simple and not extravagant like Naruto had seen on many other wizards, consisting of a dark high collared cloak over a black shirt and armored plates on his shoulders with dark loose pants tucked into simple high top boots. His pants were held up by what appeared to be an armored belt, and when approaching him Naruto could tell Gildarts had incredible magical reserves.

Naruto pulled to a stop a few feet away from the duo. "Hey Master, you wanted to see me?"

Since he arrived at their side while they were in discussion with one another Naruto had the fortune to overhear the last few words of their conversation. "… too young he can't be strong enough for this."

Makarov ignored what Gildarts had said to him and turned to speak to the young cheerful boy. "Ah Naruto, just the person we were talking about. Do you remember what we discussed about a month ago in the forest?"

Raising an eyebrow in slight surprise Naruto took a quick look around before he responded. "Yes I remember. Is it no longer something you would like done with discretion Master?"

A soft chuckle was Makarov's reaction. "No worries my boy, we won't talk here I just wanted you to know why I called you over. Follow me outside there is something I wish to show you."

Before he could walk out the door Gildarts interrupted him. "Let's let them eat first Master. I'm Gildarts Clive by the way kid. Nice to meet another new member of the guild."

Shaking the hand that Gildarts offered Naruto introduced himself too. "Naruto Scarlet," jabbing his thumb behind him he then said, "and the little redhead sitting down over there is my imouto Erza Scarlet."

By this point Makarov had realized that indeed the Scarlet siblings were about to sit down and eat their meal. Smiling sheepishly at Naruto he offered a small apology, "Sorry about that Naruto, I didn't notice you were about to eat. Why don't you and your sister meet us in that same clearing in East Forest where we first talked? Say in about 30-45 minutes is that good for you?"

"No apologies necessary Master," laughed Naruto, "I forget things when I'm in a rush for something important too. We'll meet you out there in about 45 minutes then."

"Great, then we'll be on our way." Makarov remarked walking out of the guild followed by Gildarts.

Shaking his head at the slightly eccentric Guild Master, Naruto walked back to his table to inform Erza of their plans for the afternoon. Makarov had said to bring Erza along so whatever it was he wanted to show Naruto it must not directly involve investigating Raven Tail.

* * *

"I still think you're making a mistake Master. For all the potential you see in him, he is still very young. Someone like him shouldn't be thrust into the world of Dark Guilds so quickly." Gildarts argued. He'd been opposing Makarov's idea to have Naruto infiltrate Raven Tail ever since he was first told of it.

"He is young," Makarov conceded, "but if even half of what he's told me and I have seen is true, he is more than skilled enough for this. Besides that's why I will have you test him yourself to determine if he's strong enough or not. This way you can put your mind at ease."

Gildarts considered that before, "Alright then I'll test him a bit, but if he doesn't measure up to my standards Master, then I have the right to make him drop this investigation. I won't send a child that can't defend himself into such a dangerous environment. We both know what would happen to him if he is ever found out."

Grimly nodding as he acknowledged how dangerous this would be for Naruto if caught, Makarov easily accepted that stipulation.

"I understand that as well Gildarts so go ahead and test him to what you believe is a fair level. However," at this point he looked up to meet Gildarts' eyes to convey how serious he was, "do not purposefully sabotage his chances of going ahead with this. Raven Tail is far too dangerous to be allowed to run free. We must keep an eye on Ivan and whatever plans he cooks up for the future."

* * *

**Magnolia East Forest **_1 hour and 30 minutes later_

The clearing they had picked out would do well for what Makarov had planned. There was a river nearby, but apart from a boulder here and there it was mostly an open area surrounded by trees.

Makarov and Gildarts had been waiting for the two young wizards for well over an hour now. Starting to feel a bit irritated as he'd always been impatient, Gildarts was about to head back to the guild and drag them out but then he heard them walking towards their location.

"We're so late nii-san! I hope Master Makarov won't be mad at us." Erza's voice rang out, irritation clearly evident in her tone.

"It's not even my fault though Erza-chan. I didn't get us lost or anything this time." Naruto offered lamely, as he felt that he wasn't to blame for being late.

"You didn't tell us we were supposed to be here 45 minutes ago nii-san. If anyone is to blame it's definitely you." Erza protested as the dual eye colored siblings finally stepped into the clearing.

Makarov gave the two an amused look as he rather liked seeing the two of them act so carefree and normal after everything they'd gone through. Even so he had to ask, "What took you so long Naruto? You were supposed to be here almost an hour ago."

Slightly humbled at the soft rebuke from the Master of Fairy Tail, Naruto nevertheless had a strong urge to emulate his old sensei.

'_Should I go with the black cat excuse? No no that'll never work. Maybe getting lost on the road of life? Nah Erza-chan would never let me get away with that. Hmm decisions decisions…' _Naruto was beginning to see why Kakashi always came up with ridiculous excuses when late. Thinking them up in the first place was so much fun.

Erza, got the feeling that her aniki was about to offer a lame excuse for their tardiness judging by his look of concentration. In order to prevent that she stomped on his foot in warning.

Wincing from the pain, Naruto finally came up with what to say. Shooting a sly smile in Erza's direction he decided that the truth was the best answer, or at least part of the truth. "Erza-chan decided it was a good idea to get a second and then a third helping of strawberry cake as dessert. I urged her to hurry so we wouldn't be late but alas she wouldn't listen."

She sputtered indignantly before coming up with a reply. "But you offered to pay and told me to take my time!"

Naruto waved off her accusation nonchalantly, "Yeah but I always pay and besides I had to make sure you actually chewed your food and not just inhale it like you usually do. Its quite rude you know."

Mortified that her aniki had placed the blame on her Erza could do nothing but look at him with wide disbelieving eyes. A burst of laughter from Makarov alleviated all concerns of getting in trouble however and so she was able to calm herself down.

"Stop teasing your sister Naruto, older brothers shouldn't do that." Makarov chided gently, "Now I'm sure you're curious as to why we brought you all the way out here."

In truth Naruto had already guessed that they wanted some sort of demonstration of what he could do. Based on what he overheard them talk about as well as Makarov's hint and their present location he was prepared to exhibit a few of his jutsus.

"Is it because you want me to show off some techniques?" Naruto ventured hoping to get this over with.

"Not exactly," Gildarts interjected, "we came all the way out here so that you and I could spar. I want to make sure you're strong enough to handle what we're asking you to do."

Excitement flowed through him as Naruto had long ago wondered how he stacked up to an established powerhouse. At first he'd been thinking of asking Makarov to spar who he learned was a member of the Ten Wizard Saints, but Gildarts was offering and he was supposed to be on par with the Sandaime Guild Master.

"Awesome! How do you want to start then? What are the rules? Who's the referee?" Naruto let out in a rush eager to begin.

Makarov placed a hand on the excitable blonde to calm him down. "You will start at my mark. The rules are nothing lethal for either of you and no weapons. I will be the judge. Now prepare yourself Naruto, this won't be easy."

Walking away from Gildarts until he stood about 20 meters away, Naruto waited for the starting signal.

'**Take this seriously shrimp. It'll take more than spamming mass amounts of clones to beat this guy.'** Kurama warned his young again container.

'_I am taking this seriously fuzz face. Even without your chakra I have plenty of skills and moves to show how strong I am… And quit making fun of my height asshole!' _Naruto retorted hotly.

Pulling Erza a safe distance away from what he felt would soon become a battlefield of destruction, Makarov then turned to the two fighters. "Begin!"

'_**This should be a good test of the brat's skills. He's too arrogant from training in ANBU and using my chakra. Stealth and power are one thing, but he's lost what made him so dangerous in his youth. He must relearn to trust his instincts and be unpredictable.' **_Kurama thought to himself after giving out a warning to his container.

Naruto just stared at Gildarts, watching and waiting to see who would make the first move. Seeing that the titanic man was content with doing nothing Naruto molded his chakra and performed a seal-less **Shunshin **and disappeared from his position. He reappeared mid way through an axe kick aimed at Gildarts' head as he tried to catch him off guard.

Without even trying, Gildarts blocked the blow with his forearm. Slightly impressed Naruto once more vanished from view only to appear in his original position. He was more than a little concerned at the fact that Gildarts hadn't seemed worried in the least by his attack.

Now a bit wary at how strong his opponent appeared, Naruto decided to reevaluate his opinion on the S-class wizard in front of him. While he knew he wasn't as physically strong as when he was older, having his kick blocked so effortlessly was worrying.

Naruto had hoped to catch him off guard with his speed but Gildarts hadn't lost track of him at all when defending. It was time to step this up a notch; it was foolish of him to hope that kick would have hurt Gildarts. A man said to be on par with the Guild Master wasn't to be taken so lightly.

Pumping chakra into his legs he made a bee line for Gildarts almost reaching him before swerving to the right and attempting to attack from the side. His punch was once more blocked effortlessly by Gildarts. Not one to be deterred he tried to follow up with a kick, one that was blocked as well, before ending his combo with a high knee that Gildarts just batted away.

Gildarts' defense was impeccable, and what made it worse for the young blonde was that he made it look so effortless. Using only one arm to do everything, and so Naruto made a tactical retreat. Lamenting not being able to use his **Hiraishin** kunai, Naruto planned a different style of attack. Flashing through a few hand seals quickly he jumped back and behind a boulder before whispering his technique.

"**Doton: Dochu Senko" **One of the few Doton techniques he knew that allowed for total immersion into the earth itself.

Now fully hidden from view, Naruto carefully and as silently as possible made his way underneath Gildarts. Sensing no reaction from his opponent he exploded from underground and made to uppercut him hoping to finally hit him.

Gildarts merely leaned back a small amount to avoid the incoming fist and cocked his arm back. He'd had enough of letting the boy jump around and try to hit him, sooner or later he would also hit back even if he was restricted on how hard he could by Makarov. So Gildarts punched Naruto in the chest as he avoided the uppercut.

Naruto was sent crashing to the ground and skidded a few feet away before sticking out an arm and using it to leap back to his feet. The force of the blow was nothing to laugh at.

"Is this all you've got kid? You might as well stop now if can't land a single blow on me." Gildarts blandly stated unimpressed with what he'd seen.

Makarov had said the kid was strong and had potential, all he'd seen so far was a moderately fast child who could somehow move underground. If he wanted to pass this little test, he'd at least have to make Gildarts move from his spot.

Smirking and rubbing the sore spot on his chest Naruto prepared to show Gildarts exactly what he had. If Gildarts had been informed by Makarov of Naruto's skills then he would be expecting a fire mage who could also wield earth magic. So weaving a few more hand seals Naruto prepared his next move to throw at the S-Class wizard.

"**Doton: Ari Jigoku"**

Gildarts only blinked once in slight surprise as all the earth around him swirled before trying to pull him down. He was in a sinkhole it seemed.

"Interesting spell kid, too bad it won't work on the likes of me." After saying that he activated his magic and concentrated it to his fist, **"Kurasshu: Yaburu" **slamming the fist into the ground. The impact on the earth cracked the land and tore it open, pillars of stone and earth rising upwards as an enormous crater formed directly underneath his fist.

Jumping out of the crater Gildarts turned to face Naruto only to see him with a wide grin on his face.

"Didn't expect it to, but this might. **Katon: Karyuu Endan.**" Naruto inhaled deeply before exhaling a torrent of concentrated fire all aimed at the red haired mage.

"Heh so the kid really can use two types of magic. Not bad." Gildarts mumbled before raising his arm palm out to defend from the attack.

"**Punkai: Disoperu" **instead of an enormous explosion resulting from two attacks going head to head, Gildarts' magic simply overwhelmed the fire and dispersed it harmlessly.

Naruto stared wide eyed as his jutsu was seemingly snuffed out before reaching its target.

'_This is a lot harder than I thought it'd be. But that magic he just used, it was almost like he cut my attack apart.' _Naruto thought to himself.

A familiar cross hand seal made its appearance before **"Tajuu Kage Bunshin"** was called out and a trio of new Naruto's appeared.

"Ha this kid is interesting. I've never seen that type of magic before." Gildarts remarked.

All four Naruto's took their places on opposite sides of Gildarts, trying to surround him. Gildarts stared impassively as he didn't believe they could do much to hurt him at this point.

Two of the clones went through different sets of hand seals before each announcing their technique.

"**Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu" **a great dragon shaped flame erupted from Naruto's mouth and immediately made its way to Gildarts.

The man in question simply shook his head before raising his hand in order to dispel it once more. However before he could another attack joined the fray.

"**Doton: Yomi Numa"** The second Naruto unleashed his attack resulting in an instant mud swamp under Gildarts aiming to hold him in place.

Realizing that even if he dispelled the flame he would be a sitting duck for a follow up attack from another of the Narutos Gildarts quickly pumped magic all around his body to dispel the swamp around him. Briefly unleashing **Kurasshu** magic from his entire body he blew away all the mud trying to suck him in before jumping out of the way of the incoming flame dragon and landing near the river bank.

"I assume all your little copies can use magic too then? It's too bad I can crush earth and snuff out your fire magic though." Gildarts said although he was a little impressed by what he'd seen.

Laughing at that presumption Naruto answered the older man. "They can each use as many techniques as I can. And I might just surprise you with what I can still do." He answered cryptically.

Gildarts raised an eyebrow at that as he calmly looked around him to see where each Naruto stood. One of them had disappeared after launching the fire attack and two stood in front of him. Looking around for the last he finally noticed he was behind him and seemingly standing on the water.

The Naruto on the water grinned at Gildarts before calling out his own attack.

"**Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu" **Another dragon took shape from in front of Naruto, but this time it rose from the water and uncurled itself like a cobra before striking at Gildarts in a shocking display of speed.

Before he could either evade or block the incoming water dragon, a Naruto attacked Gildarts preventing his getaway. Launching a devastating flurry of punches, kicks, knees, elbows and the occasional head butt it was difficult for anyone to keep up. Well difficult for anyone not at S-Class wizard level.

Gildarts wove his way in and out of the incoming blows and when he couldn't he'd simply block them with one arm again.

"**Raiton: Jibashi" **the first Naruto that he'd lost track of after the fire dragon joined the one attacking Gildarts before the wizard could retaliate with his second arm. As electricity crackled up and down his arm Naruto made sure to avoid his doppelganger as he launched a wave of electricity at the cloaked wizard.

Easily batting the lightning away with a muttered **"Punkai: Hoden"** Gildarts was confused to what they hoped to accomplish with physical attacks.

'_Why the hell aren't they jumping out of the way of that dragon?' _Gildarts wondered.

His question was answered when the dragon tore through both Narutos resulting in a cloud of smoke commemorating their existence. Undeterred the dragon barreled straight towards Gildarts who now had no time to avoid it or defend himself.

The water dragon caught him in its maws carrying him clear through the clearing. Crashing him through several boulders and trees in the surrounding forest the attack didn't die down until he'd plowed a sizable trench through the earth.

The force of the water tore up the ground Gildarts had been on and destroyed anything that got in its way as it tried to tear him apart. Brush and debris littered the area where the dragon finally ran out of power.

That was one of Naruto's more powerful water attacks that weren't lethal and he expected to have to wait a minute for Gilarts to catch his breath and regain his bearings. So it was with wide eyes that Naruto looked on as Gildarts walked back into the clearing and kicked away a broken tree trunk that he crashed through. The only thing denoting he'd been attacked was his wet cloak.

"Ha ha, you are definitely full of surprises kid. No wonder Makarov thinks so highly of you." Gildarts exclaimed as he let out another deep laugh.

'_Th-this guy. It's no wonder he's considered the strongest mage of Fairy Tail. Even if I didn't expect to knock him out with those attacks, to just shrug them off like they're nothing is incredible.' _Naruto thought in disbelief at what he'd just seen.

'**Until you can measure up to him in battle, I don't think you should slack off on your training Naruto.' **Kurama let out seriously. Even he could recognize what a powerful and worthy opponent Gildarts Clive had turned out to be.

'_Yeah no kidding. He's as strong as Ei if he's able to just shrug off attacks like that. Maybe not as fast but the brute strength is definitely up there.'_ Naruto replied.

'_**At least he's not the same old moron that would spam clones and start an idiotic charge towards his opponents with his Rasengan in full view. He has a long way to go before he can claim S-Class shinobi status though, especially if he keeps his word and frees me.'**_Kurama opined to himself.

"So then is that all you've got?" Gildarts asked in what he deemed a teasing tone of voice.

Naruto scowled immediately at hearing him, as it seemed he was being mocked. "No, definitely not, there's one more thing I want to do."

Of the three clones Naruto had created only one remained and he immediately went over to his creator's side. The clone made a tiger seal and held it waiting for Naruto's signal to begin their plan.

With a nod from its creator the clone revealed its technique. **"Doton: Doryuu Joheki" **before stomping its foot on the ground causing an earthen rampart to erupt beneath Gildarts' feet and lifting him several stories high.

Gildarts could only look on confusedly as one of the Narutos went up in smoke and disappeared before the other one also called out a technique. It didn't make much sense for Naruto to give up the high ground though.

"**Fuuton: Juuha Repuu Sho"** down below from Naruto's arm, which he thrust in his opponent's direction, a massive demonic hand made of wind formed before launching itself at the red haired mage.

Gildarts thought that he wouldn't be able to be caught by surprise any more today, after all it's not often you see a kid proficient in one elemental type magic much less two. Here in front of him though, was a kid not much older than Cana who could use not three, not four, but five different types of magic. Five! This kid was incredible.

He wasn't about to let that thing hit him though, once with that dragon was enough. So after he channeled magic to his fist he slammed it down, **"Kurasshu: Yaburu"** and destroyed the platform he was on.

Jumping off the rapidly deteriorating earthen structure and on his way downward he was caught off guard as Naruto appeared before him using that speed technique from earlier.

Only a slight elevation of one eyebrow showed Gildarts surprise at this. _'I see, so the platform was just a distraction so he could try a frontal attack when I'm in mid-air.'_

Once more Naruto attempted to engage him in hand to hand combat. Right punch, spin kick, left punch, left elbow strike, roundhouse kick, an uppercut and a headbutt all made an attempt to worm their way past the falling wizards guard.

Regrettably for Naruto, he was once more shown how outclassed he was by Gildarts as said man blocked all attempts to hit him before smashing a fist into the blondes stomach and rocketing him away from his foe.

Amazingly enough all this had taken place in the amount of time it took for Gildarts to descend to the ground. As his feet touched the earth he noticed how the demonic wind claw followed after him. After landing he punched at the claw using **Punkai: Disoperu** and cracked it to pieces, his magic even going so far as to cut the trees behind the claw into pieces from his blow. Taking a look around he saw Naruto getting back to his feet.

"I've seen enough Naruto. You've done more than enough to impress me." Gildarts paused when he saw the damage they had caused to the area around them.

"I couldn't even land a hit you though." Naruto grumbled, more than a little peeved at seeing how far he had to go before he could challenge S-Class wizards.

Acquiescing to the older man's request to stop the fight he was nevertheless determined to get stronger even as he outwardly scowled at how far he had to go.

Shaking his head at the sullen attitude of the young wizard, Gildarts turned to look over at where Makarov and Erza were sitting. Of said spectators only Makarov was in complete shock after what he'd witnessed.

Erza, while certainly impressed, had already known that Naruto could use powerful elemental jutsu. He'd said so himself and had demonstrated for Erza after she'd asked him once.

Even so, the damage that had been caused was unbelievable. Their unofficial training ground had been torn apart. Trees were missing, craters were everywhere, and boulders were more prevalent. It would be a pain to get this place back to its original shape. Luckily Naruto could use earth manipulation to fix the majority of the landscape.

All throughout the spar, what had amused Erza the most was watching Master Makarov's jaw drop lower and lower until she could swear you would be able to fit a barrel in there.

After the two had stopped fighting it was Erza who reminded Makarov he was the judge and had to end the match.

She immediately made her way over to Naruto and checked him over for any injuries. Seeing none she gave him a tight hug and congratulated him on a job well done.

"That was really impressive Naruto-aniki. One day I'll be just as strong as you are." Erza chirped happily even as she stood perfectly still in front of Naruto.

The blonde shinobi only smiled and easily accepted the praise he was given. While she was slightly more open around others, he could still see that she forcibly restrained herself from acting more upbeat because Makarov and Gildarts were around.

"Of course you will Erza-chan. In fact maybe we should up our training so you get even stronger than I am not just match me." He teased, smirking at her slight paling complexion.

Now that the spar was over, Naruto finally looked himself over. Apart from the two painful punches he received from Gildarts he was fine. Sure he was throwing around jutsu like it was candy, but he had more than enough chakra to keep going if need be. In fact neither of the two fighters had any injuries to speak of, only slight bruising on Naruto's behalf.

Only the battlefield that Naruto called his practice grounds was testament to their might.

'**Don't you think you should have held back a bit pipsqueak? Letting everyone know that you can utilize five different elements will make you easy to identify. Not something that a spy should aspire to.' **Kurama mentioned carelessly. If Naruto wanted to make things harder for himself who was he to judge?

Eye twitching Naruto pushed past his irritation and answered the nine tailed fox, _"Shut up baka fox! I won't always use all five elements when I fight. They just wanted to test me so I had to. I'll just ask them to keep that part quiet… Call me pipsqueak one more time fuzz face… See what happens."_

'**Ooooh scary.' **

Makarov made his way to Gildarts. "So what do you think?"

"Kid's definitely got potential. I've never even heard of a person trying to learn more than two offensive type magics. He's strong enough for what you want, as for being sneaky enough I'll just have to take your word for it." Gildarts said his voice exposing how impressed he'd been by the kid.

"Yes well, do you remember how I said that he arrived at the same time as Erza but then left to visit the Grand Crocus Library among other things?" Makarov asked his fellow S-Class wizard.

Rubbing his chin with his hand in thought Gildarts tried to remember past conversations with the Guild Master. "Now that you mention it yeah. What about it?"

"I asked my old friend Yajima to call me when Naruto reached the library in Crocus. I arranged for a pass to be available for him to research. Imagine my surprise when I was told he never picked it up." Makarov laughed.

Frowning in confusion Gildarts didn't understand what that proved. "What's so funny Master? All that means is he didn't visit the capital."

"That's where you're wrong. He brought me some paperwork that you can only get done in Crocus as well as copies of books I asked him to pick up for me only found in the Library." Makarov laughed.

"That's a riot. To be able to break into the Magic Council's treasured library is no easy feat." Gildarts grinned back.

Ambling over to the older men, Naruto and Erza wanted to find out what they decided. "So what's the verdict master?"

If one were to have met Naruto when he was young, you'd never believe him to grow into the type that is crafty, cunning and a good spy. As a child he would often pull pranks for attention and had a loud and boisterous personality. The way he dressed also called immediate attention to him; as a child he preferred wearing bright kill-me-now colors.

It wasn't until he actively started to avoid the public that he appreciated the subtlety and effort that went into infiltration and reconnaissance missions. Lo and behold he took to it like a fish to water. In fact, the deeper he would have to infiltrate and therefore lie the more he enjoyed those types of missions handed out to him.

Finally here was a field that he was pretty much raised for. His shadow clones allowing him to gather information quickly and with low risk. His experience with pranks and getaways giving him an idea of what to follow when planning traps or escaping from a botched mission. All of it coming together and proving that he was more than just a walking chakra power plant that smashed his way through everything.

So it was with great apprehension that he awaited Makarov's judgment. Infiltrating Raven Tail would be the first job he could take that even vaguely resembled his previous shinobi life style. He didn't exactly miss his ANBU days per se, especially since he had far more freedom here than he did before.

No it was the fact that this finally allowed him to have a little bit of creativity with how he accomplished things. It wouldn't be something settled with fists and flashy jutsu, it was his skill and quick thinking that would keep his ass out of the fire.

Surprising it may be, but he really enjoyed outthinking his opponents rather than smash them to a bloody pulp. A fond smile settled on his face as Naruto wondered if this was how Shikamaru felt all the time.

Both of the older mages pulled their attention to the young duo. Makarov was almost vibrating with excitement over what he'd seen. Barely able to restrain himself from jumping up and down in glee after watching Naruto. He'd never admit it to Gildarts but he too was worried that Naruto might not be good enough to spy on Raven Tail.

After clearing his throat a bit Makarov alleviated Naruto's fears. "You have impressed us both Naruto. You're all clear to go ahead if you still want to. Maybe later on we can get together to hash out the details alright?"

Understanding that though Erza was allowed to come and watch, Makarov still wanted this kept secret. So in learning that Naruto nodded to show his understanding of the situation.

"No problem Master. Did you want to do that today or is there anything else you wanted from me?" Naruto asked.

A shake of the head later and Makarov responded. "No no my boy you are free to do whatever you need. Are you going out for a job later? I can always call you in later this week."

Naruto sighed as he walked away to start on the repairs to the training field. "No jobs for today. I think I'll do some light training with Erza-chan and then call it a day. Maybe tomorrow though."

Erza with resigned displeasure evident in her demeanor took to helping Naruto clear some debris and setting things in order as well.

"Ok then, see you later kid, I'm off to do a job myself." Gildarts called over his shoulder, halfway out the clearing already.

With nary but a light chuckle Makarov too left the clean up to the younger generation.

After a few hours of collecting the brush into piles and terra forming the landscape to satisfaction, Naruto called a stop to their work. "Now then, you asked me a while ago about learning shinobi skills Erza-chan. Are you still interested?"

Erza wiped sweat off her brow with the back of her hand before answering. "Well…yes I am. But how are we going to start? I haven't mastered magic just yet nii-san."

While Erza was talking Naruto took a scroll out of one of his pockets and unsealed a book. Glancing at it to make sure it was the correct one he handed it over to Erza. (4)

Erza looked at it curiously before turning a puzzled face to Naruto.

Naruto waved her curiosity away and focused on what she'd said instead. "Don't worry about that. I won't give you anything but the basic chakra meditation for a while yet. I wasn't kidding when I said you'd have to start at academy level training. On top of that I want to make sure it doesn't hamper your already developing magical talents so it's fine if we take it slow."

Erza only grew more confused. "That's fine. What did you give me this book for though?"

In her hand she held _A Beginner's Guide: Fuinjutsu_ _by Kaito Uzumaki_.

"The shinobi field is diverse and can be approached from any direction to be good in it. There are Taijutsu masters, Genjutsu, Ninjutsu and Iryo-nin as well as any number of their subdivisions like Bojutsu, Ninpo, and many others." Naruto wound down as he felt he was veering off topic.

"However, just about all of these fields require adequate chakra stores as well as control. Fuinjutsu on the other hand is much more flexible and it emphasizes the mind more than the body. Considering you will be plenty tired from our regular training as well as new training in magic I think this field suits you best until you build up your reserves don't you?" Naruto rattled off hoping to convince her to develop an interest in a vastly underestimated field.

Truthfully, even if she built up adequate chakra reserves, he theorized that she would never be able to perform high rank ninjutsu or genjutsu. Just like his Shiki Fujin messed with Kurama's chakra control he guessed that her magic would mess with her chakra control too. He would of course teach her as much as he could but this gave him an out for her to concentrate on if or when she hit a wall in learning the other shinobi arts.

Taking a closer look at the book in her hands and flipping through the pages, Erza could admit she was curious about this now. She'd been told the **Hiraishin **involved heavy use of advanced fuinjutsu and often watched Naruto seal away clothes, groceries and a number of other things into scrolls.

"I guess you're right nii-san. It wouldn't do to overwork myself trying to master both magic and chakra control at the same time." Erza admitted with a small frown.

With a smile that would put Maito Gai to shame Naruto skipped over to Erza and engulfed her in a hug. "That's my wonderful imouto! Always doing the right thing. Now if we hurry we can still get to the store and buy you calligraphy set to get you started on this."

And with that an excited 13 year old looking blonde boy dragged a protesting little redheaded girl along with him as he dashed into town. It wouldn't be until a few months later that Erza would wonder why if Naruto also practiced calligraphy he had atrocious handwriting that looked more like a toddlers doodles than actual legible material.

* * *

**Raven Tail **_6 months later June x777_

It had taken both Naruto and Makarov a considerable amount of time and effort to locate the elusive Dark Guild. Both employing their own methods in doing so. Makarov calling in favors with various informants in different towns and Naruto embarking on his own path to track the guild's location down.

Naruto had taken a leaf out of his deceased godfather's book and started building an information network. It was still new but showed promise. Unlike Jiraiya and his love of brothels and visiting public baths, Naruto based his in food stores, magic shops, train stations and bars. Places where it was certain people would go and be a little loose with their lips because of overconfidence. Who would spy on people at food stores and train stations after all?

After discovering the location of the guild Makarov and Naruto had debated and planned on how to proceed. Naruto having more experience had eventually swayed Makarov to lean towards his ideas.

He knew that it was unlikely he'd be able to infiltrate the guild on the first try. His spy network had told him that Raven Tail was recruiting right now and accepted almost anybody.

This was both good news and bad news.

Good news in that he'd be able to almost walk right up to the front door and knock. In doing so he'd be able to scope out the terrain and get the basic idea for the guilds security and other pertinent information.

Bad news because if a guild was recruiting so heavily it meant that they were either desperate, which according to Makarov's knowledge of Ivan was unlikely, or they were using the new recruits as cannon fodder for whatever jobs they took right now. Only the top brass and original mages would be given privileged information unless Naruto was willing to display how powerful he was.

That would be a disadvantage for him though, since Ivan could possibly uncover his motives. Naruto would be under heavy suspicion for being powerful and joining a new Dark Guild when he could possibly have joined other more established Dark Guilds. He didn't need the extra attention.

Makarov had wanted Naruto to try once and be done with it, occasionally trying to break in and test Raven Tail's security. Naruto had wanted to go in and infiltrate as deeply as possible before stealing as much information as he could and making a mad dash out of there when discovered.

In the end they'd compromised. They would have a few test runs in joining to get a feel for the guild. This was to see how deep it would be safe to go before suspicion fell on them. Eventually they would need a semi-permanent position in the guild to obtain important knowledge on how it was run and why.

Either that or they'd work to make a detailed map of the guild and all points of access so Naruto could break in and out without worry while spying on the Master and his plans.

As he approached the ominous and shoddy looking headquarters of the mysterious Dark Guild, he took a minute to give his disguise a once over. Heavy scuffed up dirty looking boots? Check. Torn black pants coupled with a frayed off white shirt? Double check. A large brown coat with a fur collar and a hat? Yeah that just about covered everything.

Of course clothes alone wouldn't allow a thirteen year old child entry into Raven Tail. To help in his mission he'd spent a few months learning about disguise seals to place on his face, arms, torso and legs. Really all they amounted to was a solid **Henge**. Similar to overlapping a hollow shadow clone on top of his body. The only drawback was its large chakra consumption, making it unpopular for most shinobi. On the bright side it was very hard to dispel because of that.

Thanks to his impressive reserves he could sustain it for a few days if need be. This allowed for him to take the appearance of a man in his mid twenties with a darker skin color, slightly pudgy face with stubble, black eyes and black spiky hair. All in all, a mostly forgettable person if seen walking down the street.

As he stumbled through the guilds main doors stirring up a lot of noise many of the members turned to look over at him.

Taking a swig of the gourd at his side that aided in his disguise he slurred out, "Is this that new guild I've been hearing about? Um its uh Raven whats it? No no. Rai-raisins bail. Wait wait Raisin Fail! Yeah that's it… Raisin Fail."

An angry tic mark appeared on many of the members foreheads. More than a few sneered at the newcomer and several of the females threw disgusted glares his way.

Naruto barely restrained his grin.

"It's Raven Tail asshole!" One of the more vocal members shouted out.

Letting out a deep belch followed by another swig of alcohol Naruto turned his attention to the speaker. "That's right Raven's Ass. Sorry about that. Hit my head on something hard last night. Head's all fuzzy."

'_Right. I'm sure it's the head injury.'_ Was the general sarcastic thought going through all the members heads at that moment. The smell and potency of the alcohol could be discerned throughout the entire mess hall. His mocking the guilds name did him no favors whatsoever either.

"Anyways, so I hear you're recruiting. Where do I sign up?" Naruto asked with a dopey smile on his face.

When all the members rose as one and approached him, some cracking their knuckles, Naruto only had one thought cross his mind. _'Oh yeah this is fun. I love infiltration missions. Maybe I overdid it a little though…'_

* * *

**A/N **I hope you enjoyed the spar a little. If some thought it was one sided well yes I whole heartedly agree. Throwing mass amounts of jutsu won't make Naruto powerful in Earthand. As Maito Gai has proven, it is not flashy techniques that guarantee a win. He managed to take down an S-class shinobi that neither Kirabi nor Ei could defeat after all, and he used Taijutsu to do so.

Anyways I have plenty of things written down below, rest assured this will not happen every chapter or even every other chapter but I didn't want to outright spell out during the story a lot of the details that I have written below. Even without all the A/N and everything this is my longest chapter I've ever written. As always please read and review.

Gildarts is far too strong to be taken down by even a jutsu spewing 13 yr old Naruto. Especially since he can't use Kyuubi's chakra as that would hurt him more than help. Just pointing that out

(1) Erza thinks she is the one who killed Jellal after losing control of her magic causing her to black out. Naruto hasn't corrected that since she feels ashamed to even admit it out loud and so doesn't know Naruto actually knocked her out. She didn't pass out. Naruto also thinks HE is the one to kill Jellal and just doesn't say anything to Erza since he feels bad for killing her childhood friend. Its just an extreme misunderstanding between the two.

(2) Erza if you remember is allowed to ask him one question a day that he must answer to get to know him better. However, Naruto hasn't explained in detail his past just yet. Part of that is lack of trust and another part is he doesn't want pity from anyone, never being the type to complain. So when asked about Kyuubi Erza was just given the basic overview of who he is and what he does for Naruto.

(3) Although never explicitly stated I assume that knowing that Kyuubi's true name is Kurama is a privilege and not something to be given out by anyone save Kurama himself. So until Kurama tells Naruto that it's okay, he won't say his real name out loud to anyone else.

(4) Naruto had his weapons taken away at the Tower of Heaven but not his vest nor his scrolls that contained some books he took for light reading. He'd often be out on missions for weeks or months at a time so he learned to bring along plenty of reading material and other things.

Shunshin – Body flicker

Doton: Dochu Senko – Earth Style: Subterranean Voyage

Hiraishin – Flying Thunder God

Doton: Arijigoku – Earth Style: Ant Lion Prison

Kurasshu: Yaburu – Crash Magic: Break

Katon: Karyuu Endan – Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb

Punkai: Disoperu – Disassembly Magic: Dispel

Punkai: Hoden – Disassembly Magic: Discharge

Tajuu Kage Bunshin – Multi Shadow Clone

Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu – Fire Style: Dragon Fire Projectile

Doton: Yomi Numa – Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld

Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu – Water Style: Water Dragon Projectile

Raiton: Jibashi – Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder

Doton: Doryuu Joheki – Earth Style: Earth-style Rampart

Fuuton: Juuha Repuu Sho – Wind Style: Beast Tearing Gale Palm

Henge – Transform


	6. Chapter 6

"normal speech"

'_thoughts or flashback'_

"**jutsu or magic"**

'**Kurama speech'**

**Chapter 6**

_x778 July_

To think, of all people to try and teach him how to read it had to be Erza. Natsu shuddered as he imagined what kind of tortures the polite and quiet but extremely strong girl would put him through.

Instead of his big mouth getting him in trouble this time it had been because he couldn't read. He'd already been a part of Fairy Tail for almost a year, and never before had anyone said anything to him.

It was only because he'd picked a high paying job the day before and that nosy Mirajane had made fun of him that anyone noticed he couldn't read so well. Most jobs were simple and the person who hired you would explain things anyways so Natsu never really had a reason to read better.

Only Erza had volunteered to teach him to read even though he didn't want to. Unfortunately for him she had ignored his protests and dragged him off to start a three day cram session. Natsu luckily was able to escape from her and hide.

That was the day before though and now he'd finally worked up the nerve to study.

Erza was scary, and she'd definitely be mad he ran out on her yesterday, but he hoped that meeting her bright and early today would make up for it. So this is why Natsu moodily kicked a stone down the road as he headed to her home.

Natsu was not a morning person, so as he walked along one of Magnolia's water canals he was barely keeping himself awake.

"Stupid Erza and stupid books. I already know enough but Lisanna found me yesterday and talked me into studying. And why does she live so far away from Fairy Hills?" Natsu grumbled as he got nearer and nearer to what he was certain would be extreme pain.

He turned the corner and looked up at the street sign to see where he was. "Windmill Way. This is the street Lisanna said she lives on. Well I might as well get this over with."

Natsu squared his shoulders and mentally prepared himself for the day.

As he got closer and closer to the numbered apartment he'd been told she lived at, his courage was slipping away. Every step he took echoed far too loudly in his mind. Every inch that brought him closer only seemed to taunt his already fraying nerves.

It was far too quick for his tastes that he made it all the way to her front door. Hands trembling he hesitantly raised his arm to knock on the door. Hoping that the gods of good fortune favored him, Natsu was ready to bolt if Erza showed even the slightest hints of anger.

As he knocked on Erza's front door and began the waiting game, a sense of nervousness welled up inside him. How angry would she be? Should he beg for mercy as an apology? If not, would he live to see another day? Natsu knew he had screwed up yesterday by running away.

Erza didn't take kindly to wasting her time and Natsu running away after having she already decided to help him was a big waste of her time.

Natsu was distracted from his thoughts by the soft thuds of footsteps making their way to the door, followed by a click of the lock as the door opened.

Instead of Erza who had crimson colored hair, two different colored eyes and a permanent blank look on her face there now stood a boy. Rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things and then double checking the door number to see if he got the wrong place Natsu just stared at the sleepy looking boy at the door.

The blonde teenager stood there, blinking to get the sleep out of his eyes as he stared at Natsu. He looked like he had just woken up, his hair looked naturally spiky but bits and pieces were spikier and messier than others. His eyes were a bit droopy even if they were the same colors as Erza just in reverse. The right eye was brown and the left blue, while Erza's right eye was blue and the left brown.

Natsu just stood there nervously, wondering if Mirajane had put Lisanna up to pranking him. Perhaps if he explained things this sleepy citizen would help him somehow.

Yet even as Natsu sat there pondering his situation, the blonde boy seemed to wake up, his eyes gained focus, became sharp and slightly irritated, "Oi you done staring? What do you want; it's still early in the morning you know?"

Natsu swallowed, steeling his resolve and getting past his nervousness. "I'm sorry," he apologized, "I'm looking for Erza and Lisanna told me she lived here. I must've gotten the wrong address though. Sorry."

Just as he was ready to turn and leave the blonde boy spoke up with a tone of resignation, "Erza huh? Ok come in then. We're having breakfast and you're welcome to join us."

Ushering Natsu inside the blonde boy then led the way to a kitchen where breakfast was being set by another identical copy of the teenager. Everything was the same. All the natural features and right down to the same clothes, which were green froggy pajamas and a walrus sleeping cap.

At another chair sat the girl of his fears. Erza Scarlet. Well she would be the girl of his nightmares if she wasn't sitting there looking far from scary. For a moment Natsu was sure he was indeed dreaming.

Erza Scarlet normally wouldn't be seen as anything less than intimidating.

When she came to the guild she would wear a long sleeve frock with a red cravat tied around the neck. She would also wear a cuirass, which was both an armored breastplate and backplate, spaulder which were armored shoulder guards, and black leggings with brown boots. Along with a sword at her waist and all of it fit her magic type, the magic** Kanso Za Naito**.

The sight that greeted Natsu's eyes however, was far from intimidating. In front of his disbelieving eyes Erza sat wearing a pink version of froggy pajamas. She also had her hair down from its usual braided pony tail and let it hang down her back. The most astonishing difference however, was the calm, content, and slightly happy look she had as she let the other blonde set her food in front of her.

Hearing someone come in she tucked into her food as she asked a question not bothering to look up, "Who was at the door nii-san?"

Now it made sense to Natsu. This must be Naruto Scarlet, Erza's older brother. It's true they didn't look too similar but the unique eyes should have been a dead giveaway. His magic was some sort of self copy magic so that explained the other Naruto serving food.

If she lived with family it also explained why she didn't live at Fairy Hills like other girls he knew.

It also meant that what Cana had said to him some time ago was true too. About how Erza was a much happier and different person when Naruto was around, the only problem being that Master Makarov usually had him running errands around the country for him.

It had been after Natsu complained about how mean Erza was that Cana scolded him about his whining and told him how different she could be.

"Some pink haired kid's here to see you." Naruto explained as he took a seat, "What are your plans for the day Erza-chan?"

"Huh? Pink haired…" Erza trailed off as she looked up to see who Naruto was talking about. She narrowed her eyes as she caught a glimpse of Natsu who was trying unsuccessfully to hide behind Naruto.

"Natsu." Even with that single word, Natsu trembled as it sounded foreboding and dangerous coming from her.

Before he could do little more than shake in fear, Natsu heard amused laughter coming from the blonde. In an instant Naruto was at Erza's side ruffling her hair and pinching her cheeks. "Erza-chan is funny when she tries to sound scary."

She sputtered indignantly as she tried to recompose herself. In the end the only thing Erza did was huff and turn back to her food. "I am supposed to give vocabulary lessons to Natsu today nii-san. I didn't realize you would come back last night but I can't break this commitment."

Naruto just nodded, "That's fine Erza-chan. You should always keep your word. How long's this supposed to take?"

"Erza," Natsu whined, "are we really going to take three days with no sleep, food or rest?"

"Natsu," Erza snapped, "you have to work hard to improve at anything."

Naruto just laughed and motioned for Natsu to take a seat. "Now now Erza-chan, I don't want you skipping meals or going without sleep. Make sure to leave time for rest in between your study sessions or else he won't remember anything you teach."

Erza reluctantly agreed to his demands but not without some minor grumbling.

Natsu just breathed out a sigh of relief before sitting down and taking a look at breakfast. He'd run out of his house so fast for fear of upsetting Erza even more that he'd forgotten to eat.

In front of him was a standard breakfast though. Steamed rice, miso soup, tamagoyaki and broiled fish. Nothing too heavy but it would give them a good start to the day.

"Fine. It'll take four days then instead of three. What are you going to do today nii-san?" Erza asked as she ignored Natsu who was trying his best to inhale his food without chewing.

Naruto chided Natsu on his table manners and then sat back to eat a bit of his meal. "I'm just going to go talk to Master Makarov about his latest request and then maybe train a little."

Naruto noticed the slight frown on her face, likely due to missing out on time hanging out together to tutor Natsu instead. "How about you guys meet up with me around lunch time and we'll go out to eat somewhere? I should be done with Master by then." He offered.

A warm smile slid its way across Erza's face and she nodded happily. The rest of the meal was surreal to Natsu. It was the first time he'd ever seen Erza so relaxed and content, sometimes she even cracked a joke while conversing with Naruto.

Naruto himself was an enigma to the young dragon slayer. Often teasing Erza and trying to get her riled up. Most of what he did seemed to be for his amusement and not once did Erza ever hit him or retaliate in any physical way. He just couldn't wrap his head around it.

"Naruto?" Natsu caught the older blonde's attention, hoping to get some answers.

"Yeah?"

"Why aren't you afraid of Erza? If anyone else in the guild did or said half the things you've done she'd flatten them. She's scary when she gets mad and you don't seem to care." Natsu blurted out.

Erza just glared at Natsu for calling her scary in front of her nii-san. That and she was slightly confused since in her opinion she was extremely polite not scary.

Naruto erupted into laughter that took him a while to calm down from. "I like you Natsu. You don't beat around the bush. Erza gets mad at me plenty in case you haven't noticed. It just doesn't worry me much since it isn't that scary."

Erza turned her glare from Natsu to Naruto, who was only reaffirming Natsu's belief that she was indeed scary.

Naruto laughed some more and tousled her hair, causing her to turn back to her meal.

Natsu only grew more confused. "Why aren't you scared of her? She's super strong. I'll beat her soon but right now she could flatten just about anyone in the guild. Even Mirajane! Though Erza doesn't use any magic when she and Mirajane fight… which makes her even scarier."

"Is that so," Naruto gave Erza a proud look at hearing from Natsu that she was plenty strong, "well believe it or not Natsu, I'm way stronger than Erza."

"What?!" Natsu shouted out, completely shocked at hearing Naruto was so much stronger than Erza that he could confidently tease her without a care in the world.

Looking to Erza to hear what she had to say at that he was even more surprised to see her nod seriously accepting it as fact. "It's true Natsu. Nii-san is much stronger than me, but that's why I train so hard so that I'll be strong just like him." (1)

"In fact," Naruto continued, puffing out his chest and striking what he considered a heroic pose as he stood atop his chair, "I'm so strong that in lands far and wide people bow to my name and worship my heroic feats. My presence alone is cause for celebration. That's right, lands everywhere consider me a hero. Me the great and powerful Naruto-sama! Isn't that right Erza-chan?"

"So cool!" Natsu exclaimed stars in his eyes and about to start bowing as well.

Erza couldn't believe that even now Naruto could act so childish. She turned her blank stare on him, "… you're so weird sometimes nii-san." She said without emotion, before turning back to her meal.

Naruto face faulted. It was a huge blow to his ego hearing Erza say that.

After some more idle chit chat and following breakfast clean up, Erza took Natsu away to start beating vocabulary into his head and Naruto headed to Fairy Tail to meet with Makarov.

* * *

**Makarov's Office**

As Naruto settled into the chair in Makarov's office he looked around to see if anything had changed. Apart from a few new books and the booster seat Makarov seemed to have bought everything stayed the same.

Amused at the sight of Makarov wiggling his way onto the booster seat Naruto let out a few snickers. "Need some help over there Master?"

Makarov chuckled and waved off the taunt. "No, and I've told you before Naruto. You don't need to be so formal with me."

Naruto shrugged. "It's a sign of respect Master. If you're eager to have a nickname I could always call you shrimpy?" he offered.

'**Like you're one to talk, with your great and towering height.' **Kurama snorted in his head.

Naruto just ignored him as he kept the true reason he wasn't on more familiar terms with Makarov hidden.

Truth was that Naruto only assigned family figures any kind of endearing nickname. The Sandaime Hokage was his jiji and after his death he didn't want to look at anyone else as a grandfather figure as he didn't want to make it seem like he'd replaced the first person who was nice to him in his life.

Tsunade he still called baa-chan and Shizune was his nee-chan. Jiraiya was ero-sennin simply because it both fit him and he was the first to treat Naruto as a regular person. Not a jinchuuriki weapon, not a moronic student like Kakashi and Iruka, nor a hero or demon like everyone else. For that alone Naruto held him in high regard and missed him dearly.

They were constant figures in his life and to call other people the same nicknames would only degrade how he saw them. After having the villagers flip flop between hating him and loving him so quickly and often, he began to truly appreciate those that had been honest and true to their feelings towards him from the beginning.

Most people were shallow and pretended they never did anything wrong. Konoha was the best example for this line of thinking. Not once had anyone from the village even attempted to show remorse or apologize for how they'd treated him as a child.

He didn't hate people, far from it, but he couldn't stand the fact that the very same people who were cruel to him as a child pretended like they'd always believed in him as a grown up. This was a big reason on why he appreciated those people who'd believed in him growing up.

So yes if someone proved trustworthy enough he'd warm up to them and be his real self, but otherwise he liked to give them the proper respect that any decent human being deserved that he was denied for so long as a child.

Makarov was getting close, but unfortunately for both of them they didn't spend enough time together to grow comfortable with each other. Not with what he was assigned to do at Raven Tail.

And that was a big factor in Naruto even considering being more familiar with people anymore. Having been dumped in Fiore and joining Fairy Tail was a blessing in disguise for Naruto. He no longer hid from people like in Konoha. Granted they didn't know exactly what he did like his old home, but he got the feeling that even if they did they wouldn't care.

Gildarts was arguably just as powerful and as big a hero here as Naruto was in Konoha. Yet he was never swarmed nor had people act like long lost friends to him. Yes, Fairy Tail was doing wonders to improve his outlook on life and his social skills. Erza was a huge factor as well.

"Haha no thanks my boy. Calling me Master will do. Now then," Makarov turned serious, "what have you found out on your most recent attempt in Raven Tail."

Naruto straightened in his seat and pulled out a small scroll from his pocket. From the scroll he unsealed several folders and handed them to Makarov. Each folder was labeled differently, one was **Members**, another **Finances**, another **Missions**, and the last was the smallest labeled **Information Network**.

Makarov accepted them all without a word and went through each folder individually. Even though the folders were thin, they were incredibly detailed and easy to read.

He was impressed at what Naruto had uncovered. The information contained within these files would go a long way towards keeping Ivan in check. Makarov took a moment to look up from the files and eye the child in front of him.

No, not a child but a teenager now, and a powerful one at that. Even though he didn't know for sure, he suspected that Naruto was stronger than even Laxus now. He'd seen the blonde a fair amount of times over the last year since the initial infiltration but he'd changed in that amount of time.

Right now he wore a black long sleeve shirt with only the front colored gold and red spirals on the shoulders. He also wore creamy colored pants with the ends wrapped and black plain Feiyue shoes. His golden colored hair and lively eyes were enhanced by his clothes.

Naruto thinking that Makarov wanted some more information decided to explain his files, "The Members and Missions folders should be self explanatory Master. The real goldmine of information was obtaining a list of the businesses they launder money through which is in the Finances folder, and positively identifying some of their spies in other guilds and locations including the Magic Council."

Makarov having only looked through the Members folder was shocked at all the information Naruto had uncovered. They now had a firm grasp on Raven Tail's finances and how they gathered information. If need be they could even turn this information over to the Magic Council in hopes that it would be enough to warrant an investigation.

As soon as he thought that though he grimaced. Ivan may have fallen and walked down a dark path, but even now Makarov couldn't bring himself to sentence his child to prison.

"Very good Naruto. This is far more information than I thought we'd get at this point. What do you believe we should do now?" Makarov inquired, deferring to Naruto's expertise in this situation.

Naruto took a minute to consider that before, "I suggest pulling out Master."

Raising his hand to stop Makarov's protests, Naruto continued, "Hear me out. This was my sixth try at infiltrating Raven Tail to get valuable information. The first time was as a drunk where I got beat up and thrown out." Makarov chuckled, remembering that occasion.

"Another time I tried going in as a pervert and just got beat up by the girls, although I kind of deserved that one." Naruto admitted sheepishly.

"A third time I was an arrogant, moody and self absorbed asshole that the girls loved but resulted in the guys setting me up for failure." Naruto wondered what Sasuke would think if he ever found out he'd used him as inspiration for that attempt, "Twice when I infiltrated after that, I was too strong and suspicion fell on me so I was forced to leave before anyone uncovered anything."

Winding down after his long explanation, Naruto continued with the final attempt, "This last time I was kicked out after refusing to kill people that our job requested. I've already gathered a great deal of information from my past attempts and the best piece of information I've gathered is that we won't get anywhere doing things as we are now."

Confusion marred the Sandaime Guild Master's features. "What do you mean my boy?"

Naruto let out a deep sigh, "Master, you've said it yourself. Ivan is a very paranoid and very secretive person. At the rate we're going I'll never be able to infiltrate deep enough to find his true goals unless I dedicate myself full time. Something which I'm not willing to do for various reasons. Mainly Erza, but also because of the job requests the guild receives."

Makarov nodded sagely at his words. "It seems this is as far as we can go using fake, temporary identities." He leaned back into his chair and rubbed his temple. "The only way to go any further would be to have Ivan recruit you personally. Open recruitment that he's allowed so far carries the risk of having spies in your guild, which is likely why you couldn't go any deeper than what you have now."

The blonde teenager just nodded.

"If it helps any Master, I believe that his true objective won't be revealed for several years yet. It seems to me like for now he's content with getting steady funding, building the guild's reputation, recruiting powerful wizards, and gathering info on other guilds and organizations." Naruto speculated.

The guild master lowered his chin onto his intertwined fingers resting on his desk. "Well it does seem like he has his hands full at the moment. Alright then Naruto, thank you for all the hard work you've put in over this past year. I know it was hard for you to spend so little time with Erza but I appreciate everything you did."

Naruto waved off Makarov's concerns for him and how he'd been overworked. "Don't worry about it Master. Erza's been doing fine on her own. This helped her open up a bit to others here at the guild. I hear she even has a rival now?"

Makarov chuckled. Yes it seemed that Erza's heated rivalry with Mirajane Strauss had reached even the elusive Naruto's ears. Too bad it was a bit of a one sided rivalry. Mirajane had potential to be strong that much was true, but Erza had a distinct advantage. She had Naruto helping her train. Naruto was very powerful in his own right so for the moment Erza simply outclassed Mirajane because of how Naruto trained her.

Just as he was about to comment on their recent bouts, Naruto interrupted him once more.

"There is one other thing that I forgot to mention," he started, "my information network has come up with a lot of talk of Dragon Slayers. What can you tell me about them? A lot of guilds seem to be asking about them."

Makarov was surprised at this line of questioning. Before he could answer he was interrupted by a knock at his door. Macao Conbolt stuck his head in after hearing Makarov call him in.

"Master, there's a person here from the Magic Council with a message for you." Macao said before walking out the door.

Makarov furrowed his brows in concentration, wondering what the council had sent him. Apart from the standard damage his guild caused he couldn't think of anything that warranted a messenger that didn't simply drop off the message and leave.

Naruto tilted his head in question, silently asking what the Sandaime would do.

Makarov simply waved to follow him out the door and go greet the mysterious messenger.

As the two of them exited Makarov's office and headed to the first floor, they both expected one of the toad aids or a Rune Knight to be the messenger. Instead the closer Naruto got to the person sitting at the bar the bigger the feeling that he knew this person got.

When the messenger turned to face Makarov and Naruto she looked slightly surprised at seeing the blonde before her.

Likewise Naruto was surprised at who the Magic Council had sent to Fairy Tail. It had been a while since he and Ultear had seen each other even if they occasionally kept in touch through letters.

Turning on the stool offered Naruto a better look at the teenage girl he'd first met in Crocus soon after arriving in Fiore.

She was dressed in casual clothes wearing dark blue capri pants, sandals and a red blouse. She had let her raven colored hair grow a bit longer, allowing for two straight locks to hang down her front and the rest to reach the middle of her back. Her dark eyes that twinkled with intelligence and cunning offset her pale skin. She wore little to no make-up and if not for her holding a missive from the Magic Council she could easily be mistaken for a normal civilian girl.

"Ultear-chan? What are you doing here Ultear-chan?" Naruto asked.

The slight smile that had been on Ultear's face was quickly replaced with a frown and slightly narrowed eyes.

"Naruto. I wasn't expecting to see you here today. What have I said about adding –chan to my name?" She growled out the last bit.

A sly smile made its way to Naruto's face, "Oh I don't remember Ultear-chan. Why don't you remind me Ultear-chan what it was you wanted me to do with the –chan in your name Ultear-chan."

Realizing that he was trying to get her riled up with all the teasing, Ultear merely glared at Naruto some more before turning to Makarov. "Master Makarov, I am here with an important message from the council concerning the Ten Wizard Saints. Here is the information you need to review and there is paperwork you will need to complete which I will then take back personally to the council."

Makarov grabbed the paperwork from Ultear concerning his council granted title. Thumbing through the pages he realized that he would need to fill out the papers immediately so Ultear could take them back that same day.

"Are you going to wait here while I finish this?" Makarov asked while waving to indicate the rowdy guild hall.

Ultear smiled at him while glancing at Naruto, "Actually if you wouldn't mind Master Makarov, I'd like to request to have Naruto show me around. It would give me an opportunity to catch up with him without having to breathe down your neck waiting for the papers to be filled out."

The shouts of two young mages approaching the guild interrupted whatever reply Makarov was going to give.

"No means no Natsu!" Everyone currently in the guild turned towards the guild doors at the sound of Erza yelling at Natsu.

"Come on please Erza! It's just one tiny break, and as soon as I beat up Naruto I promise I won't ask for any more." Natsu yelled.

Makarov and Ultear both raised an eyebrow in question at hearing Naruto's name. For his part, the blonde teenager merely shrugged sending the clear message _'I know about as much here as you do'_

"Natsu sure is persistent. Always picking fights with everyone." Macao commented from over at his table with his friend Wakaba.

"True," Wakaba scoffed, "but he should know by now not to disobey Erza."

"What are they arguing about Naruto?" Makarov asked.

"Beats me. If anything Natsu should be thanking me for feeding him this morning not trying to pick a fight." Naruto replied in a dry tone.

The group waited in anticipation as the guild doors slowly opened. In walked Natsu nursing a fresh lump on his head and a dejected expression. Erza quickly followed in after him but not before looking around the guild for something. Once she spotted Naruto her eyes lit up and both of the younger wizards walked towards him.

"Hey Naruto. Fight me!" Natsu cried out in excitement. Excitement that Erza quickly snuffed out after smashing his head to the ground.

"Shut up already about that Natsu. We're only here to eat something because nii-san said we have to take a break from studying. If you'd rather go the full three days without rest I'm sure we can manage that instead." Erza scolded the pink haired dragon slayer.

Ultear looked amused at their behavior and Makarov slightly embarrassed that his guild members acted this way in front of a messenger from the council. Naruto chose to laugh and make his amusement clear.

"It's good to see you guys took my advice about rest seriously." He said to the two of them, "Ultear-chan how about you go out to lunch with me and these two hooligans here?"

Erza was about to protest at being called a hooligan but instead turned to the intern she'd met in Era on her first mission with Naruto.

"Hello Ultear-san." Erza greeted the older girl. Ultear acknowledged the redhead with a small nod. "Where are we gonna eat nii-san?" she asked Naruto.

"We'll find someplace, don't worry. What's this about you wanting to fight me Natsu?" Naruto asked as he picked Natsu up off the ground.

Natsu jumped up and pointed a finger at Naruto. "Naruto! Fight me. Erza told me all about how strong you are. If I want to get stronger I need to fight stronger wizards besides that sensitive snowflake Gray."

Naruto almost laughed at the similarities between Natsu and himself when he was younger. "Ok ok Natsu. I'll spar with you a little later, but not till after we eat. How does that sound?"

"Aw," Natsu pouted, "why can't we just fight now?"

Erza promptly smashed his head to the ground again before dragging him out the guild. "Let's go nii-san, I'm hungry and Natsu can wait until after we're done eating." Erza called out.

Most of the guild laughed at how Erza handled the excitable dragon slayer. Naruto palmed his face at how curt and blunt Erza still seemed to be with people. He shifted to face Ultear. "We can catch up over lunch can't we Ultear-chan?"

Ultear leveled him with another frosty stare, which Naruto easily dismissed, and followed Erza out the door.

'_Well at least she's not as violent as the first time we met'_ Naruto thought to himself.

Of course when doing so, more often than not his tenant would answer. Even if he wished that Kurama would stay quiet most of the time.

'**You sound oddly disappointed at that… masochist.' **Naruto wished that Kurama was indeed free so that he could pay him back for all the taunts he'd received over the years.

Makarov remembered there was one other thing he wanted to talk to Naruto about later on. "Stop by my office later on my boy. I'd like to talk to you about taking the S-Class promotion exam."

Naruto waved a hand over his shoulder before exiting the guild to show he'd heard Makarov.

* * *

"So you're no longer an intern at the council," Naruto paused in eating his food, "but instead you are now the personal aid to council member Belno?"

Ultear daintily wiped away any excess food on her lips before answering. "That is correct Naruto. As prestigious as it sounds though, I will admit, that the job is very monotonous and rather dull."

At the moment the group of four was sitting at an outdoor patio eating their food from one of the many restaurants in Magnolia Town. Erza and Naruto had elected to let Ultear choose where to eat despite Natsu's loud protests. Erza of course scolded Natsu into behaving while the group ordered food and waited for its arrival.

Ultear seemed content to watch the interaction between the Fairy Tail members and only occasionally asked questions of her own. "What about you Naruto and Erza? What have the two of you been doing since last we met?"

Erza went on to explain the few exciting jobs she'd taken in the last year or so. Sometimes she elected to take a job with another one of the kids at Fairy Tail helping her. Most notable was when Natsu or Levy helped her, often making the job that much more interesting.

When Ultear tried to ask Naruto about his errands for Master Makarov, she found his answers evasive at worst and half-truths at best. Something which quickly piqued her interest, although she was careful not to let them pick up on that. _'So I was right about you, Naruto Scarlet. There is much more to you than meets the eye if Makarov has you doing personal missions for him already.'_

Even as she sat there and interacted with the mages of Fairy Tail, she couldn't help but feel a slight pang of envy at how Naruto acted towards Erza. While it wasn't overbearing or heavy handed, one would have to be blind to miss how much he cared for his sister. Once more cursing her mother for abandoning her, she used the feelings welling up inside as further motivation to complete her ultimate goal.

Naruto had been relentlessly teasing everyone in their little group and trying to get a rise out of Erza and Ultear. Ultear decided that a little payback was in order. Sending a sly glance Naruto's way she looked between Erza and Natsu making sure to catch their attention.

"So tell me Erza, why were you alone with Natsu here so early in the morning? Hmm? And you were so eager to drag him out of the guild before Naruto and I could get a chance to talk to him. Is he your boyfriend?" The raven haired beauty teased, just waiting for Naruto's reaction.

She prided herself in being able to read people and predicting their reactions. It made manipulating them effortless for her. Naruto was an enigma to her, but she was sure that his reaction to this would be gold.

Erza looked annoyed and slightly panicked that Ultear would even joke about Natsu and her like that.

Natsu looked up from his food and almost cried out in alarm at the looks he was getting from both Erza and Naruto. He stood firm in his belief that Erza was scary, but he never thought that the cheerful blonde brother of hers could be just as scary if not even scarier.

Naruto's bangs covered his eyes casting an ominous shadow over them and he seemed to radiate promises of pain. "Natsu," he intoned sinisterly, "you're not trying to date my precious imouto are you?"

Ultear chuckled. She was right, Naruto's reaction was gold, and Erza's follow up would probably be just as funny.

Natsu frantically shook his head no and started babbling something about 'scary' and mentioned Erza's name a few times.

"Ow! Erza-chan did you just kick me?" Naruto accused her.

Erza only glared at him for daring to cause a scene in a public place. "That's not funny nii-san."

Giggling, Ultear placed a delicate hand on Naruto's arm before he could raise a ruckus. "I was only teasing Naruto. Now it seems to me that we're done here, and I don't believe Master Makarov is done with the paperwork yet so would you mind if I accompany you to your spar with Natsu?"

At the reminder of the spar, Natsu jumped up in joy and was ready to bolt for the exit.

Ultear smiled when Naruto agreed to let her come along. _'Hopefully this will give me a good evaluation of your skills Naruto. I doubt Makarov would entrust anything to a weak wizard.'_

Leaving enough money to cover their meal Naruto ushered everyone outside so they could get started. Ultear had barely stepped outside after following Naruto when her eyes widened in surprise. He had been just a few feet in front of her when he had suddenly placed a hand on Erza's and Natsu's shoulders and then disappeared.

It was even more shocking when he reappeared only a few seconds later. He grinned at her shocked features and grabbed a hold of her hand, only for the scenery to instantly change around her and shift into that of a mountain setting.

"But how? Where are we and how did we get here so fast? Is this **Shunshin no Maho**?" Ultear asked in disbelief at what she'd just seen.

Naruto laughed while Erza seemed completely unaffected by what had happened and Natsu was running around in awe of what he'd experienced. "It's sort of like that Ultear-chan. We're at Mt. Ivor."

Ultear's eyes widened in admiration after hearing how far they'd traveled. _'He must have some impressive magical reserves to get us so far and so quickly.'_

"Would you like me to mediate the match nii-san?" Erza asked. The group had managed to find a relatively clear area where they could start the spar with only a few minor rocks scattered around the clearing. The flat ledge they were on overlooked a decently sized rocky area full of craters and even bigger boulders with little room to maneuver.

Naruto waved his hand dismissively. "Sure sure Erza-chan. So how do you want to do this Natsu?"

"All right! I finally get to fight someone strong. Bring it on Naruto!" Natsu cried out hopping from one foot to the other in excitement.

"Natsu uses **Ka no Metsuryu Maho **nii-san. So go easy on him and use some fire yourself." Erza suggested from her spot off on the sidelines.

Ultear was pleased that she'd get to see another form of Lost Magic in action today on top of whatever skills Naruto had.

"You use fire magic too?" At Naruto's nod Natsu became, if possible, even more excited. "This will be a breeze then! I eat and breathe fire. Check it out."

Natsu turned away from Naruto and faced a boulder off to the side. This boulder was easily 5 meters tall and twice as wide. Natsu inhaled a deep breath of air and raised his fists to his mouth one in front of the other, a deep fiery red magic circle formed in front of his fists with a dragon's head in the center.

**"Karyuu no Hoko"**

As Natsu exhaled a torrent of orange and yellow colored flames erupted from his mouth at a blistering pace headed straight for the boulder. When the flames made contact the boulder exploded from the force of the attack. After the smoke cleared all that was left of the boulder were a few scattered rocks and the scorched ground on which it sat.

"Impressive," Naruto commented, "but you've got nothing on the great Naruto-sama!"

Natsu was annoyed that his skills were being laughed at while Erza sighed since she knew Naruto was about to show off.

Behind her Ultear placed a hand on her hip and waved her hand impatiently. "Well do show us your power then oh great and powerful Naruto-sama."

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly, "Oh alright then, you guys should probably move back a little." He said to them. "I forgot Ultear-chan was here for a minute there." He mumbled to himself.

'_Oi Kurama. Can you lend me some chakra?'_ Naruto pleaded.

'**Why' **It seemed Kurama was not in a giving mood.

'_I've always wanted to beat a fire user at their own game ever since Sasuke-teme started shooting fireballs at me when we were kids. Since he's not around, Natsu is the next best thing.'_

'**Really? You sure it's not because you want to impress the closet pervert girl over there?' **Kurama commented lightly.

'_Shut up baka fox! It's not like that.'_ Naruto protested indignantly.

'**I don't want to hear excuses while I'm trying to nap. I can only give you a small amount anyways.' **

Grumbling at the lack of respect he was getting Naruto started on his hand seals before inhaling a deep breath of air. Similar to Natsu he raised his hand to his mouth before breathing out his flames.

"**Katon: Goka Messhitsu"** A massive stream of intense white hot flames erupted from his mouth. Unlike his other fire techniques this one was meant for a wide area attack, meaning that it engulfed the rocky flatland below him in a veritable sea of flames. The intensity of the attack was further increased by using the much denser and potent chakra of a tailed beast.

'_I might have overdone it a little. Erza's going to be mad at me for showing off again.' _Naruto thought to himself before speaking out loud. "Well as soon as I put that fire out we can get started alright Natsu?"

He looked back to see if he could hold off on fighting the excitable pink haired boy long enough to control the fire. What greeted him was the absolutely gobsmacked looks on the faces of all three of his companions. _'Even Erza-chan's surprised? Wow, I'm good'_

Ultear's jaw threatened to unhinge at seeing the massive inferno Naruto had produced. Her initial evaluations of Naruto were severely underestimating him. She'd thought that he was interesting and might help her, if only in a small way, to reach her goals. Now she was more determined than ever to sway him to her side. _'He just produced more fire then Zancrow's ever managed to do with only a single attack. God Slayer or not, even Zancrow's flames would have a hard time matching Naruto's judging by the intensity and heat that I can feel from here. And he's not even winded in the slightest!'_

When she saw how Naruto was smiling and enjoying the expressions of everyone there, she couldn't help but return the grin even if hers was a bit more predatory in nature.

Ultear stepped forward and patted Natsu on the back. "You're on Natsu. Show Naruto what you're made of." She teased as she then took a step back to her original position.

Hearing no response Ultear laughed at the young mage with Naruto quickly joining in on Ultear's teasing. "At any rate I think it's time we head back to Fairy Tail so I can pick up the paperwork Master Makarov had to fill out." She explained with a pointed look towards the blonde fire breather.

Naruto quickly created a few clones with instructions to smother the flames before they got out of control before stepping forward to take everyone back to the guild. It wasn't until they'd arrived that Natsu had erupted into cheers for Naruto and demanded a fight the next day to make up for missing out on the last one.

"Well today was certainly much more interesting than what I'd originally planned. It was great catching up Naruto, if you're ever in Era again don't be a stranger. See you later, and you as well Erza." Ultear winked coquettishly at Naruto before leaving for Magnolia station, paperwork for the council in hand.

Naruto grinned mischievously, "No problem Ultear-chaaaan. I'll be sure to stop by and ask about you sometime soon."

Musical laughter met his ears after she had turned around and half heartedly glared at him for using –chan again. It seems like she'd already almost gotten used to his familiarity with her.

Erza quirked an eyebrow before expertly smoothing it over before Naruto noticed it. It was rare to see Naruto so carefree and open when around anyone besides Erza. He was friendly to everyone he met but the way he acted today was not his typical attitude.

As much as Naruto teased Erza and made everyone around him feel at ease, he rarely was so calm like he had been all day with Ultear around. It brought a small smile to her face, maybe Naruto would act like that more often. After all if he asked for Erza to be more open then it was only fair for him to be more open around people as well.

* * *

In a small side alley before arriving at Magnolia Station, Ultear pulled out her communication lacrima and contacted her superior.

"Have there been any new developments or any changes to the council that put our ambitions at risk Ultear." The guild master of the dark guild Grimoire Heart asked.

"None whatsoever Master Hades. The message to the Wizard Saints appears to have been the standard information updates and any possible nominations for a new member." The raven haired girl answered.

"Good. Do any of the guilds have any mages we might possibly recruit to our side?" Hades questioned.

Ultear quirked an eyebrow. _'Well there is one… but I think I'll keep him as my ace in the hole for now. You are a bit impatient when recruiting Master Hades, and I wouldn't want to lose such a valuable player just because you couldn't wait for him to change his mind.'_

She smoothed her features and then answered the guild master. "None worth mentioning Master Hades. Though I will of course keep an eye out for anyone that might be able to help."

"See that you do Ultear." With that Hades then cut the link to the lacrima and his image faded from the crystal orb.

'_You are more interesting then I initially thought, Naruto Scarlet. So young as well, it shall be interesting to see what you do in the next few years.'_ With her inner musings over the young council worker then walked into the station and boarded the train for her next stop, head already swarming with plans on how to best use the information she'd gotten that day.

* * *

(1) Erza thinks that Tower of Heaven was taken down and everyone else freed, so her canon reason to train in order to protect herself and her captured friends is gone. Now she trains to be as strong as Naruto and protect the guild.

Short and not very action packed chapter I know, but it is important in setting things up for down the road. Plus I didn't want Ultear to be forgotten or ignored for very long. Next chapter we start the S-Class exams and then s-class missions and all kinds of fun stuff after that.

Also, it never says how old Ultear is in canon, but I'm just going to put down that in my story she is two years older than Erza and Jellal, which puts her at the same age as Naruto.

Kanso Za Naito – Requip: The Knight

Shunshin no Maho – Teleportation Magic

Ka no Metsuryu Maho – Fire Dragon Slayer Magic

Karyuu no Hoko - Fire Dragon's Roar

Katon: Goka Messhitsu – Fire Style: Great Fire Destruction


	7. Chapter 7

"normal speech"

'_thoughts or flashback'_

"**jutsu or magic"**

'**Kurama speech'**

**Chapter 7**

_December x778_

"Nii-san nii-san I did it! I can walk up trees now. Which means you owe me a new jutsu!" Erza exclaimed excitedly as she ran up to Naruto. When she reached him she shoved a finger in his face and glared just daring him to defy her.

While normally she wore her armor and the sword strapped to her waist, when alone and training with Naruto Erza wore simple gray sweat pants and a lightweight gold shirt.

She had obviously been training hard to master her latest assigned chakra exercise and was standing there huffing and puffing to catch her breath. Naruto smiled over at her amused at her posture. As tired as she was she still tried to look intimidating and was giving him the best glare she could.

Too bad her exhaustion pretty much made any posturing from her useless. It was hard to take an exhausted 13 year old girl seriously.

Now it was time to placate her though and pay up the reward for her hard work. The system worked well for the both of them.

She would learn and master chakra control exercises and he would teach her a new jutsu. They had only been training for a short time so they hadn't gotten far past the basics and simplest but that was alright.

Naruto took special care when training her to make sure her chakra wouldn't mess with her magic control. The best way to do this he found was to have her control increase without overly increasing her reserves.

Luckily Sakura was much like Erza in the academy; great control and small reserves. The reason she had that back then was because she practiced her control exercises without exhausting herself. So Naruto had Erza do the same.

Tsunade had pounded the importance of mastering basics into him so he made sure Erza mastered all her exercises before starting a new one. Both magic and chakra control exercises.

"Fine fine Erza-chan you did earn it." Leaping off the stone slab he was sitting on which was balanced on top of an earthen pike he walked over to the tired red head.

Sage training would have to wait for the moment. Besides, he liked teaching Erza new things. It's not like he neglected his own training either, he was 15 again, even younger than the first time he learned to gather nature chakra.

The only thing that bothered him was how slow going it was. It probably had something to do with his Shiki Fujin seal and magic but he couldn't put his finger on it. He didn't want to risk experimenting with the seal though, not yet.

So he ambled over to try and calm down his wonderful and excited imouto.

After showing her the hand seal and demonstrating the correct method to mold chakra for the **Shunshin no jutsu**, they called it a day and headed home.

She was exhausted and there really was no need to rush learning a new jutsu. She was patient and knew that she would master it in due time just like the other two she knew.

As had become custom for the two, they made extra food for any stragglers that had made a habit of joining their meals. Mostly it was Natsu and his cat Happy, but sometimes Cana, Levy even Gray would stop by.

Mirajane claimed she would never be able to share a meal with 'that clanky bastard' and her siblings weren't looking to irritate her by joining the Scarlet siblings for a meal. Erza had, much to Naruto's amusement, shown a completely different personality when her rival ever challenged her.

He didn't know how or why she pulled a 180 with her mood swings but Naruto was glad Erza did it at all. Natsu and everyone else claimed it had only gotten worse after Naruto showed up.

Once they had started on eating Natsu their guest for the night started the first round of questions. "Are you excited for tomorrow Naruto? It's so awesome you get to take the S-Class exams already. When I beat you after that I bet they'll make me S-Class too!"

Naruto looked mildly amused and chided him lightly on his table manners while thinking of how to answer his question. After a lively discussion on what the exam could possibly be Natsu left for home but not without wishing Naruto good luck.

The next morning Erza went and saw him off at Magnolia Station as she had a job to do on her own. "Good luck nii-san. I can't wait till you get back and tell me how it went."

Naruto gave her a tight hug before he stepped back. "Thanks Erza-chan. I'll definitely try my hardest in the exam. Becoming S-Class is only another step in becoming stronger to protect anyone close to me." He flicked her nose playfully, "Just you right now, so I don't want to hear about how you got hurt on this job ok?"

Erza scowled at him in mock anger before smiling at his last words. A final goodbye and good luck and then both boarded different trains each to their destination. Makarov had told Naruto to go to Hargeon town and Erza was headed to Kunugi.

* * *

"Everyone gather round. So let's begin. This exam is a test for S-Class promotion. That entails testing your courage, strength, decision making and planning skills. All of them are necessary for one to be an S-Class mage." Makarov explained to the gathered test takers.

They were all standing at the docks in Hargeon Town, patiently waiting for Makarov to explain the rules. Of all the guild members in Fairy Tail, Makarov had claimed only four were ready to take the exam.

All four were present at the moment and included Laxus Dreyar, Naruto Scarlet, Macao Conbolt, and the sole female mage Mickey Chickentiger.

Eyeing each of his potential opponents, Naruto deemed that the toughest one he would possibly face to be Laxus. He was the only one Naruto noticed that actually pushed himself hard and trained his magic.

Macao had a good mission record and was smart enough to merit promotion but he had also just had a kid. Rising to S-Rank wasn't a priority of his and would likely take a backseat to raising his son.

As for Mickey the reputed 'onihime', Naruto could tell she was strong but also uninterested in becoming S-Rank. She wasn't greedy but she completed missions solely for the pay.

If she rose in rank it would mean better paying missions yes but lately she'd been talking about forming a team to do missions together. A team would mean missions being completed faster and more money without the risk higher class missions brought.

Although the details of the exam aren't told to anyone before it starts, Naruto had enough experience in other promotion exams to expect a fight at some point. He was confident he knew enough about his opponents that he wouldn't underestimate them.

Makarov went around and passed a map and compass to each of the examinees. "The first part of your test begins now. You have been handed a compass that has a permanent lock on Tenrou Jima. Your job is to make it to that island before sun down or be disqualified. I don't care how you do it, by boat, flying or any other way. This tests your resourcefulness."

Gildarts who had also accompanied Makarov to Hargeon Town chuckled at the appalled look Naruto sported. "Hopefully all those stories Erza tells us about your horrible sense of direction anywhere outside of battle are wrong. Eh Naruto?"

Naruto only sulked further upon hearing Erza went around and told people of his one weakness.

Makarov continued his explanation before anyone could take off running. "The map of Tenrou Jima you have been given has 4 paths marked off. Now there are four of you and four paths, of those four paths two will lead to dead ends, of the remaining two one will have Gildarts who will test your strength and the last has an easy way out where you will face the next part of the exam. Any questions?"

No one said anything but all fervently hoped they wouldn't have to face Gildarts. His reputation was legendary and none wanted the chance to face him in a test of strength.

'_The dead ends must be for us to waste time. Seems like this part of the exam is a race. First to get to the island and first to get to the end through one of two possible paths, even though one of them has Gildarts in the way.' _Naruto started to come up with other possible reasons for the test being laid out as it was.

Naruto raised his hand like when in a classroom asking for permission. "Master, how will you and Gildarts be getting there?"

Gildarts laughed and clapped Naruto on the shoulder, "Don't worry about that. Worry about yourselves. We'll be there in time for you guys."

Naruto nodded weakly, and patted Gildarts on the shoulder. "Thanks, I was a little worried there for a second."

"No more questions? Ok good. Off you go then you noisy brats." Makarov waved them away so they could start the test.

Naruto went over and wished everyone of his competitors luck. He slapped Macao on the back as he'd grown friendly with the man, patted Laxus on the shoulder and gave Mickey a hug.

Everyone immediately took off after Makarov left. Some headed to boats and one even tried renting a magical jet-ski.

Though how Mickey reasoned that was a good idea was beyond Naruto. Those things ran on magic and she'd be bone tired before setting foot on Tenrou Jima.

Naruto just went and found a place to eat. By his calculations the soonest someone would get to the island would be a few hours.

Since he'd covertly placed a **Hiraishin** seal on everyone he touched he just had to wait till one of them made it to the island before activating his seal and being summoned there instantly. He'd also placed one on Gildarts but resolved to use that as a last resort.

He had no wish to make fighting the man a certainty in the exam.

After a few hours had gone by and Naruto ran out of things to do in town he concentrated on his chakra and molded a few seals. **"Raiton: Kyokko"**

Satisfied that his improved concealment jutsu had been performed capably he instantly transported himself to each of the seals of his competitors. As expected Macao and Mickey were the furthest back but almost at the island. Laxus however was already there.

Naruto arrived just when Laxus was about to pick what path he'd take. Luckily for him, Laxus didn't notice Naruto was there as well or else he was sure a fight would break out.

Once Laxus picked a path to go on Naruto dropped his jutsu. There were now three possible choices to pick from unless he wanted to follow and possibly fight Laxus. Which he didn't.

"Hmm. Ok here goes. Eeny meeny miny moe…" He picked the middle path of the remaining three.

As he walked down the waist-high water filled tunnel, Naruto idly wondered who designed the place. The ceilings were high but not overly so, only reaching about 20 feet above him, the roof held up by pillars and arches carved out of stone and decorated with wolf heads or something, and all of it seemed to be slightly tilted to the left.

At least that was the appearance he got when walking atop the water and seeing that the tunnel looked crooked.

If he had to fight anyone in here he'd be limited in his ninjutsu. Wind was his natural affinity and having Kurama sealed in him allowed him to use fire elements as well. But because he wasn't earth natured he couldn't produce it without already existing earth around.

He hadn't mastered any but the most powerful and damaging attacks in the fire and water elements. Using those in an enclosed space though was asking for trouble.

The earth element would be all but useless here because of the water level being several meters above the earth below. He didn't think it was a good idea to use the earth of the ceiling and walls. There was a good chance that would cause a cave in if used carelessly.

Since he only knew the powerful and chakra intensive fire attacks, that element was also out. There was only so much time to train while in ANBU so he only learned the powerful fire ones. He didn't think he wanted to risk destroying the ruins on this island. Makarov would chew him out for it.

He knew a few defensive water jutsu but without a steady source of water he never really used them or the water element at all.

Unlike Tobirama Senju he hadn't mastered it past the necessary amounts to use the high powered water jutsu. Luckily there was plenty of water around right now but he'd still have to be careful with his aim.

The lightning and wind elements were pretty much mastered for him, but he didn't want to blow the place sky high so decided that if possible he would only use the lower ranked jutsu in his arsenal that didn't cause widespread damage.

Of course all these rules and restrictions only applied when within an enclosed space. If he could somehow make it out of here before having to battle anyone then he had much more freedom in battle.

If anyone dared to challenge him in the open he would simply overpower and overwhelm them with all his jutsu. There were few who could match Naruto in raw power even without Kurama, and even fewer who could handle such a wide range of elemental attacks from him.

Random thoughts ended he wandered in the only direction available for several minutes. It was only about 10 minutes into it that he began to get bored and wished something would happen.

As soon as he rounded the next corner though he instantly regretted that wish. For there standing in front of him and the next part of the exam stood the famed Ace of Fairy Tail. Gildarts Clive.

The last opponent Naruto faced that had so effortlessly torn him apart.

"Yo Naruto. I've been waiting for you." Gildarts remarked, standing on one of the broken rocks that littered the area and kept him atop the water.

Chunks of stone were dotted here and there providing a solid foundation for people to stand on. They were like miniature islands for most people to use while navigating the tunnel. Gildarts stood on top of one rock while Naruto stood atop the water.

It had been two years since their little spar. Gildarts hadn't changed much in that time, he still wore his dark boots, long cloak and armored shoulder guards. His face still sported that stubble, and his hair was still slicked back. The only difference was Gildarts had his forearms wrapped in bandages now.

Naruto on the other hand had changed more noticeably than the S-Class mage. He still wore his Feiyue black plain shoes and black pants with the ankles wrapped up but because of the S-Class exam had strapped his shuriken and kunai pouch to his right leg.

He wore a tight long sleeve black shirt turtle neck and had commissioned a tailor to make him a standard shinobi armored vest. It wasn't chakra resistant like back in the Elemental nations but the tailor had added runes to help wear and tear as well as minor durability against magic. It seemed that mages were a few of his frequent customers.

He would have loved to wear his red sage jacket too but it only looked good with orange. Erza had laughed hysterically at him when he wore orange and his long jacket together and so he resolved not to do so again in front of her. It just wasn't good for his self esteem.

Instead he wore a different design of the white short-sleeved long haori his father wore. While Minato's haori had a flame like motif adorning the edges and the kanji for Fourth Hokage, Naruto's was a light intimation of his strongest elemental affinity and long sleeved.

He had no kanji on the back but along the bottom of the haori and adorning the edges of his sleeves were light blue representations of wind. Along his collar and forming a v down to his chest when closed the blue wind designs were also drawn. A light blue rope attached to the waist closed it off. (1)

"You know I was really hoping to avoid fighting you so I could beat Laxus to the next part of the test. I'm guessing that trying to bribe you to move aside won't work will it?" Naruto's voice was laced with hope as he asked the S-Class wizard.

Gildarts looked perplexed before he started laughing. "Hahaha no way kid. Even though someone could get through this part easy, they'd still have to face either me or Master Makarov before they got promoted."

Naruto sighed but couldn't help and ask one last question. "What are the chances you'll let me walk back out of here and choose a different path?"

The red haired mage grinned at the blonde. "None. I would just go after you. You might as well get this over with now Naruto."

Resigned to his fate Naruto took a defensive stance and planned out his first move. He took in his surroundings without taking his eyes off Gildarts. Noticed the water level, the rocks, the distance between the two. Everything that might come in handy.

Somewhere he could hear steady drops of water falling. The sound of the drops falling in the water echoed throughout the chamber the two were in.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Each drop that fell and touched the water caused ripples to appear and move outwards. Before the last ripple slowed and faded into nothingness, Naruto sprung forward and attacked.

Gildarts kept a steady gaze on him never losing track the closer he got. Naruto kept his path steady and threw the first punch with as much force as he could muster. Gildarts blocked it with his palm, the force dispersed in a shockwave around him.

The blonde immediately followed up with a right leg kick that forced Gildarts to use his other arm. And so Naruto began a flurry of punches, jabs, kicks, knees and various other attempts at defeating Gildarts.

Only minor blows made it through. None with enough power to cause any serious damage. As Naruto attempted an uppercut Gildarts tilted his head to the side avoiding the fist but slammed his own fist into Naruto's head.

He expected the blonde to crumble and sink into the water but forgot that Naruto could stand on the liquid surface. Naruto did a hand stand on the surface and attempted a split kick to finally hit Gildarts.

Gildarts simply ducked under the kick and then punched Naruto in the stomach hard enough to throw him away from the wizard's personal space. Absentmindedly rubbing his sore abs Naruto looked at his opponent debating on the best mode of attack.

He glanced away from the cloaked wizard for a split second before dashing at the walls. Running up the walls until he reached the ceiling he launched himself at the red haired behemoth of a man. Mid-air Naruto flipped into position for an axe kick. He was going through the air with such force and speed that it would be nigh impossible to dodge.

Gildarts raised both his arms and crossed them to block the kick, grunting in effort. Around him the rock he was standing on cracked from the tremendous force the kick exerted. It didn't break his guard though.

Naruto didn't hesitate despite his blocked attack and quickly executed a full roundhouse kick as he was falling to the ground. The kick caught Gildarts off guard and in the chest with enough force that he was thrown backwards and into the water.

He was down in the water only long enough to kick a loose piece of stone half his size towards Naruto. The blonde jumped over the rock, allowing the rusty haired mage time to get out of the water.

"I'm no good at wearing kid gloves Naruto. You've gotten stronger and faster but so far you've only seen me dodge or block. I'm going to start the attacking this time." Gildarts blandly stated as he rotated his shoulders to loosen them up a bit.

Faster than he expected the older man to move, Gildarts was at his side throwing punches with tremendous force. It was all Naruto could do to deflect or dodge the blows, knowing that if he blocked them they would either break his guard or unbalance him enough for more powerful attacks.

Ducking one of his swings Naruto tried a counter kick to gain some space. It only served to slightly push Gildarts back and he returned the kick in kind. His kick though, knocked Naruto several feet back from the tremendous amount of force.

Gildarts didn't want to leave him any breathing room and stepped forward. This time Naruto gave up on trying to punch the older man back since he was at a severe disadvantage punch-range wise.

So Naruto used his arms as his defense and launched kicks at Gildarts who either evaded them, blocked them with his own knees and arms, or disregarded them and let them hit as he kept up his attack on Naruto.

No matter what Naruto did though, Gildarts just kept pushing him back. After another particularly powerful punch was thrown by the auburn haired wizard the blonde bent back as far as possible to avoid it.

It narrowly missed his face by centimeters but Naruto was able to plant his hands firmly on the water behind him and kick forward with both his feet. The S-Class wizard didn't gain his rank solely on his looks however and caught the shinobi's legs.

He yanked the young man forward and kicked him so that he rose into the air. Once in the air the older wizard unleashed a devastating combination of punches, one at his face another at his stomach making him double over and the last at his chest rocketing Naruto away once more.

Naruto flew through the air at speeds impossible to adjust for. With a resounding boom he crashed into one of the rocks that jutted out from the tunnel floor. Dust from his impact clouded the air and ripples of water from the pressure of hitting the rock spread outwards from his position.

Dual colored eyes opened slowly as Naruto tried to extract himself from the huge boulder that Gildarts had embedded him into with his punch. Slowly pulling himself together he spit out a mouthful of blood before reevaluating his opponent.

Gildarts was impressed at the blonde's tenacity and skill level. While nowhere near enough to beat him, at least the kid had shown vast improvement. Where before he could hold the spiky haired boy off with a single hand, now he was forced to use both and even dodge some of the blows.

He halted his musings as Naruto made another attempt to attack.

Another punch aimed at Gildarts face was encased in the wizard's palm, and he didn't let go. This time, Gildarts used his magic to blow him away. **"Kurasshu: Inpakuto"** he intoned.

Naruto's eyes widened, this was the first time Gildarts had actually attacked him with magic. He knew that the imposing wizard was extremely strong. He must be taking this test seriously.

From Gildarts palm white energy seemed to gather for a split second before it erupted outwards with explosive force. If the ceiling wasn't so high it would surely have caved in. Even so the force from the attack shook the walls and caused the entire tunnel to rumble.

The young shinobi was thrown backwards with so much force that he barely had time to land on his feet and avoid crashing into another wall. That was a very strong attack but Naruto could tell Gildarts was holding back.

If Gildarts wanted to start adding magic into the mix then it was time to repay the favor. He quickly took stock of his physical condition before starting the counter attack.

The only noticeable damage Naruto had taken was his slightly scuffed vest. Not waiting for a follow up attack he pointed behind Gildarts and yelled, "Hey look! A distraction!"

The older Fairy Tail wizard turned around in interest. "What? Where?"

Naruto quickly molded a few seals and launched an attack to test a theory he had. **"Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu"**

The water in front of Naruto churned and twisted into a swirling vortex spinning at a high velocity as it rose into the air before launching itself at the impassive Fairy Tail wizard.

By now Gildarts had turned back and looked a little embarrassed at being tricked so easily.

The cloaked man tilted his head in curiosity at the coming attack before he retaliated in kind. **"Punkai: Disoperu"** His Disassembly magic was launched from one hand and completely broke down the swirling waters.

Naruto hadn't been idle nor had he expected that first attack to hit. So after launching it he had sent another attack following the first. **"Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri"** A slicing wave of water tore its way through the tunnel and towards Gildarts.

Only for said man to immediately dispel the slicing wave of water with another **Punkai: Disoperu**.

That was alright with Naruto though. He had gathered the information he needed from those two attempts. One of his attacks was based on power and another on speed. He had wanted to see if Gildarts magic dispersed attacks based on power alone and if there was a time limit before he could do it again.

It seemed that this man was a lot like fighting Nagato's Deva path. No amounts of ninjutsu would work on him, at least none from a distance. Naruto had tried to attack Gildarts in what he suspected was the time interval needed between using his magic but had failed.

The **Mizu Kamikiri** was his fastest water attack and the **Daibakufu **one of his strongest offensive techniques available in the current situation. To think that Gildarts had so effortlessly stopped both; this was not a man to be trifled with.

Unlike the Deva path though, Gildarts didn't seem to have a time limit between using his techniques. Since the two didn't share that weakness Naruto wouldn't be able to beat him the same way he'd beaten Nagato.

Naruto also didn't want to use increasingly stronger techniques against the man. He was sure there was a limit to what Gildarts could disperse but he didn't want to take the risk of killing him either.

'_Man this sucks. What are the chances I'd fight someone like Nagato again? All the work I put into learning ninjutsu means nothing against a guy like him. This guy needs a good old fashioned beat down. I'm still not as fast as I used to be though or as strong but I'll figure something out.'_

Kurama snorted deep within the recesses of the seal. **'I told you before brat. You can't rely on ninjutsu forever. This is the best opponent to test yourself against if you truly want to be strong without relying on my power. Now focus and plan. I don't think you want a repeat of what happened fighting Nagato do you?'**

Naruto admitted even if only grudgingly that Kurama had played a vital role in beating the Deva path back during their first fight. Without the raw power Kurama had used to bat the Deva path around he wouldn't have been worn down enough to actually beat.

Since ninjutsu was out that left only taijutsu.

Luckily he had a trump card to help after he saw how little his physical attacks had worked on the man already. His **Sennin Modo** didn't last as long as when he used it before since it put a lot of strain on his still developing body, but it would have to for what he had planned.

'_Ninjutsu's out, at least ranged ninjutsu. You think I can catch him off guard with some up close Kurama?'_

'**Probably not. You'd only be able to use ones without seals or low amounts of seals. I doubt that the wizard over there would give you any time for more than that up close.'**

"You're faster and stronger Naruto. But you aren't fast or strong enough to beat me. You're magic attacks are useless against me and you can't use the bigger ones I'm sure you have without destroying the place we're in. Just give up now." Gildarts recommended sympathetically.

He knew that at this level, Naruto couldn't do much against him. The hurdle was just too high to jump for the young blonde. Circumstances were not in his favor. Perhaps in another few years.

Naruto only smirked before rising and forming a cross shaped seal. **"Tajuu Kage Bunshin" **Instantly five copies of the grinning blonde popped into existence.

Gildarts prepared himself for what he assumed would be a coordinated group attack. Instead the original Naruto's smirk turned mischievous as he formed another hand seal. **"Suiton: Kirigakure no jutsu"**

The tall S-Class wizard whose fame was already known throughout the land and had seen many things that other mages would only dreamed of could not make heads or tails of his situation.

A thick and heavy mist began to flood the tunnel that they were in. It clouded his vision and put him on edge instantly. Whether it was the effect of the mist or not everything grew silent. He could barely see his hand in front of him.

Wanting to see where this was going he waited patiently for Naruto to make his first move.

Only a few moments passed before a fist appeared immediately to his right aimed at his temple. Gildarts would have ducked the blow had it not been for another Naruto sliding in and attempting to kick his legs out from under him.

Just like that, in less time than it took to snap his fingers, all five Naruto's were launching a coordinated assault on the auburn haired wizard. A fist to duck under one moment only to immediately block a kick and twist away from another fist and kick, these were the repeated movements the Ace of Fairy Tail had to go through.

While he couldn't say that they were particularly fast, they were certainly making him work hard to avoid any hits. After a few moments Gildarts grew tired of waiting for the original to pop up.

He'd dodged, blocked and avoided the copies long enough to detect a pattern in their attack. Timing his own just right he swept in and dispelled three of the clones before they knew what happened. The remaining two clones increased their attacks but could find no holes in their opponent's defenses.

As the clones tried to simultaneously attack him from opposite sides Gildarts caught each of their wrists and spun 360 degrees throwing them into the mist. No longer having the patience for Naruto to make his move he immediately unleashed a flare of wild magic power from his body.

The mist started to thin considerably, whether that was a result of his magic or Naruto giving up on hiding he would find out soon enough.

Waiting with baited breath Gildarts peered into the thinning mist and searched for Naruto. A vaguely humanoid shape caught his attention a ways down the tunnel in a meditative position. As the mist cleared completely Naruto stood fully.

There was something inherently different with him this time though. He had an orange pigmentation around his eyes and radiated an aura of power, soothing and warm but extreme power nonetheless.

As Naruto's eyes snapped open they were no longer the blue and brown eyes of before. Now they had changed to a golden color and his pupils had elongated to horizontal bars, no longer the round shapes of before.

Cocking an eyebrow in wonder, Gildarts readied himself for the inevitable clash between the two. He was not to be disappointed as a split second later Naruto disappeared from his position, swirling waters the only thing marking his absence.

Gildarts head was forced to the side from a powerful punch that connected with his cheek. An even more powerful kick to the stomach forced him to double over only for his face to receive a brutal high knee.

Blood spurting from his mouth Gildarts didn't have the clarity of mind to prevent Naruto taking a hold of him and executing an over the shoulder throw into the stone wall of their fighting area.

Once more a deafening boom echoed all throughout the now extensively damaged tunnel. The ceiling shook and the walls cracked from the impact.

Now it was Gildarts turn to slowly pull himself together and get to his feet. He spit the blood out of his mouth and smirked in excitement at the blonde. "So that's what you were doing in the mist. Buying yourself some time to perform a magic amplification technique. Those are rare and incredibly hard to cast unless you're very skilled. I'm already looking forward to what's to come Naruto."

The blonde only scratched the back of his head in sheepishness before answering. "Yeah I'm not as good as I used to be with this. Hard to believe you already figured out what this form really does. Not many can work out that it amplifies my strengths from a few hits alone."

Boisterous laughter echoed all throughout the tunnel. "Well come on then Naruto. Lets get back to it."

Both of the fighters grinned at each other. Both were looking forward to their clash.

'**Try not to play around Naruto. You do have a time limit with Sage mode you know. Even if you did make a few extra and ordered them to hide while in the mist.'** Kurama warned his tenant.

Grinning like a madman Naruto and Gildarts both sped forward to engage in hand to hand combat. Blows that would have glanced off Gildarts body now crashed upon him with punishing force.

Speed at throwing jabs, hooks, straight punches, kicks, knees and everything else had dramatically increased for the blonde. Not to mention the strength of every single attack had been increased by an astonishing margin.

Yet Gildarts couldn't be happier. Even when he had gone on the offensive before, he had still held back a great deal to avoid harming the teenager. Now he could really cut loose.

It took a lot of his considerable speed and strength for Gildarts to fight toe to toe with Naruto now. There was more dodging, deflecting and blocking involved whenever blows came his way, as opposed to using a single arm or ignoring the weak hits only moments prior.

Likewise Naruto increased the number of blows he would receive by blocking and evading while dishing out his own.

They were not idle with simply standing in one place and trading blows. Naruto used his surroundings to great effect, forcing Gildarts to try and step into the water where Naruto took full advantage of being able to water-walk. On one such clash he tried to catch the wizard by surprise and used a quick **Mizu Kamikiri** only to be disappointed when it was promptly dispelled despite being powered by Nature chakra now.

Similarly Gildarts tried to corner the speedy and fleet footed youngster in order to take advantage of his bigger size and frame. In an occasion where he believed Naruto was cornered and with nowhere to run he also used his magic to try and end the fight. Unfortunately his **Kurasshu: Yaburu** did nothing but leave a huge crater in the wall where seconds earlier Naruto had his back to it.

Intermingled with his normal albeit vastly powerful punches, Gildarts also mixed minor amounts of magic into his fists. Not enough magic to actively warrant spell usage but enough to break Naruto's balance and guard as well as fling him back a few feet on occasion and stop his momentum of attacks.

To counter this Naruto used his own powerful taijutsu that was explicitly designed to work with **Sennin Modo** and had the same effects Gildarts punches were doing.

Gildarts was wide eyed with surprise at what he assumed was a perfect mimicry of his own fighting style. An additional force behind his blows to throw an enemy off balance. Except that Naruto was using **Kawazu Kumite** to do what the auburn haired wizard was doing with his Crash magic.

The two broke apart after another whirlwind of blows came to an impasse. They were both breathing heavily now having lost track of time and amount of hits traded. Naruto was only faring so well because of his increased durability and healing capacities that being in **Sennin Modo** granted him.

Gildarts was truly a wizard who had earned his rank. Even though Naruto was getting in a great amount of hits the older man just powered through them and returned fire with vigor.

A drop of blood from a cut above his eye rolled down Naruto's brow. It managed to work his way into his eye and forced him to blink a few times to relieve the sting it brought.

Gildarts took advantage of the brief lapse of concentration and charged with his fist gathering magic. **"Kurasshu: Yaburu"** He murmured under his breath. He concentrated his powerful concussive magic into his fist and swung as he got close to Naruto.

Panicking and with no time left to dodge either the fist or the inevitable magic concentrated into it, Naruto molded his chakra into a seal-less jutsu gathered around his own fist. He poured massive amounts of chakra into his jutsu hoping it would be enough to counter the powerful fist coming his way. **"Fuuton: Senpuuken"**

Potent whirlwind of air met the explosive and damaging force of Crash magic. The two fists collided and an explosion the likes of a miniature bomb took place between the two. Two bodies were immediately rocketed away from each other and out of the aftereffects of the fists collision.

Gildarts was sent hurtling through the air, crashing through one of the stone platforms littering the area and bouncing along the walls until he settled down a fair distance away.

Naruto was sent skipping like a stone across the water flooding the tunnel until he likewise was embedded into one of the walls.

Once more the entire structure they were fighting in creaked and groaned in protest at the forces putting pressure on its frame. Chunks of stone fell from the ceiling and cracks spider-webbed all around the walls.

A gong sounded out from somewhere and could be heard all throughout the island. Birds took to the skies and everyone present all looked towards the giant tree where it seemed to originate. This clearly signaled something important.

Laughter flooded the once majestic looking tunnel. Gildarts rose to his feet, hair disheveled, cloak askew and clothing looking all roughed up. "What a great warm-up kid. I was told to test the strength of whoever made it here and decide if they are worthy of S-Class so I could let them pass or not. Seems we took too long and had too much fun though."

Nature chakra slowly leaving his body and slowly exiting **Sennin Modo,** since he'd already dispelled his remaining clones earlier in the fight to get their Nature chakra, Naruto also got to his feet. A sleeve rose to wipe away the small trail of blood at his mouth. "What do you mean Gildarts? How are we too late?"

A smirk from the older man was his answer. "The gong. It means someone just completed the exam. My money's on Laxus. The exam is over now, whether I allow you passage from here or not is irrelevant. As soon as the gong sounds we end the trials."

"What?!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise, jaw dropping to the floor.

'**Hahaha what a riot. I told you not to mess around and you had a time limit.' **Kurama roared. Naruto could already picture him rolling around his cage in laughter.

'_The hell you did fuzz-face! What you were talking about is my time limit with Sennin Modo, not the exam.'_ Naruto accused indignantly.

Kurama didn't even bother to apologize as he kept on laughing. **'Does it matter? A time limit's a time limit. Fact of the matter is you took too long to end this. Even if we now have a time limit of our own you should have used my chakra to win from the beginning.'**

Eyebrow twitching in irritation Naruto took a deep breath to steady himself before answering his tenant. _'You've been telling me to stop relying on your power from the beginning asshole! How is using your chakra at the start not reliant on your powers?'_

Ignorant of the inner dialogue Naruto was having with his tailed beast Gildarts elaborated on his previous explanations. "Even though we have multiple test takers, these exams are meant only to produce one S-Class mage at a time. Don't worry though, there's always next year. And next time," here Gildarts' grin grew wider, "I won't have to hold back so much now that I know you can handle at least some of it."

'_H-he was h-ho-holding back!? What kind of monster is he?'_ Naruto asked himself.

Laughter now over Kurama voiced his next words seriously. **'He is exactly the kind of monster you should be glad is on your side. Do not think for even a second that rising to S-Rank status whether shinobi or mage is easy. You will have to work hard to gain strength to protect people and uphold your promise Naruto.'**

Nodding numbly Naruto just followed Gildarts out of their battle arena.

* * *

After about an hour of wandering through the dense forests of Tenrou Jima Naruto and Gildarts finally made it to the rest point of the island. They tended to the few injuries they had and Naruto was ever thankful for his astounding healing ability granted to him by Kurama and Sage mode.

After Master Makarov gave his congratulations speech all the participants of the island left on the boat that Gildarts and Makarov had arrived on. Naruto sought out his fellow test takers and had a few conversations while on the way back to Hargeon Town to pass the time.

Macao confessed to minor disappointment at not making it past the paths in the exam before it was over.

Mickey talked to Naruto about forming her own team, and they worked on a few possible team names finally settling on Team Mega-Death.

After he finished his talk with Mickey Naruto sought out the final member of the S-Class exams and the newest S-Class mage of Fairy Tail, Laxus Dreyar.

He found him standing apart from the rest of the guild members and looking out to sea while listening to his headphones.

"Hey Laxus! Congrats on passing." Naruto cheerfully called out as he was approaching.

"Huh? Oh thanks." Laxus awkwardly responded. Though they had seen each other at the guild over the last few months neither really interacted with one another.

Naruto chose to spend his time either training or out on jobs with Laxus doing the same. Though both were polite when engaged neither actively sought out the other and only gave the customary greetings if ever running into each other.

"So what are you going to do now that you're S-Class? Bet you're looking forward to the mission pay right?" Naruto asked. Even if they didn't really know each other it would be rude to ignore the new S-Class mage Naruto decided.

"Not really. I just want to make a name for myself," Shifting uncomfortably at Naruto's curious gaze Laxus elaborated a bit more, "It's a pain being known only as Makarov's grandson or the Master of Fairy Tails grandson. I want to be known for my own exploits not those of my grandfather."

Nodding slowly in understanding Naruto realized that Laxus trained so hard and wanted to become S-Class for similar reasons that he himself had wanted to be Hokage and Konohamaru too. He wanted recognition as a person. Not to be treated as only the family member of someone important and no one remembering your name.

Konohamaru had wanted to escape the title of Honorable Grandson, while Naruto wanted to escape the title of demon brat or monster. Laxus was the same. Being related to one of the Ten Wizard Saints had to have set a huge bar for him to hurdle.

That opening salvo cracked the door for Naruto and Laxus to start their own friendship, even if a tentative one for now. They had plenty of time to improve it though so Naruto wasn't worried. The rest of the trip back to Hargeon and Magnolia passed by in comfort for the two teenagers.

Makarov watched approvingly as his grandson and Naruto talked. He knew what Laxus was going through but there was nothing he could do about it. Hopefully the younger blonde could help.

Already, even if only slightly Laxus was opening up. He usually was so closed off and ignored the guild at large never saying more than a few words. Makarov was sure that Laxus had already spoken more to Naruto than any other member in the guild in the last year combined.

Maybe if they became friends Naruto could pull Laxus out of his shell. Laxus would hopefully focus on something besides gaining strength and power on his own so that he'd step out of the shadow of one of the Ten Wizard Saints.

More than ever, Makarov was glad that Naruto was pulled from spying on Raven Tail. What good was keeping a loose watch on his son if his grandson grew up miserable?

Yes Naruto sticking around Fairy Tail was turning out to be a good thing indeed.

* * *

**A/N **Gildarts is very much like Nagato's Deva path. No amount of ninjutsu or any of the ninja arts would affect him too much because of his particular set of powers. Naruto beat Deva path only because he almost unleashed Kyuubi and exhausted the path. Otherwise he would have gotten his ass stomped up and down konoha. Don't forget that as an s-class shinobi Nagato crushed an entire shinobi village all by himself, something only the Kyuubi has ever even remotely come close to matching. With Crash and Disassembly magic Gildarts is a lot like Deva path without the 5 second forced delay in using his techniques. Just putting that out there before anyone decides to point out that at this point Naruto should own every mage in Earthland. I'm not saying Gildarts can destroy Konoha by himself, as I don't really know if he can, but he has potential to cause mass amounts of damage just like Deva path did. There's actually a Fairy Tail chapter dedicated to Gildarts and how he almost destroyed a town ch 299 I think.

Now several people have asked me for an update schedule on my stories. Truly I do not know and cannot promise any specific update dates because I will almost certainly fail to meet them. The best I can do is assure you that I will try to post_ at least_ twice a month on this story and at least once a week on my other one.

(1) if you want to see a pic of the coat Naruto is wearing there is a link in my profile. The coat is the one that Gaara is wearing so just imagine it on Naruto instead. the artist has given permission for me to display their great artwork for my story. the artist in question is named RinoaHeart

there is also now a link to ch 3 Naruto's outfit on my profile as well. the very talented artist named kunoichi-san gave me permission to display her artwork for all to see and get an idea of how Naruto was dressed.

Raiton: Kyokko – Lightning Style: Bent Light

Kurasshu: Inpakuto – Crash Magic: Impact

Suiton: Daibakufu – Water Release: Great Vortex Technique

Punkai: Disoperu – Disassembly Magic: Dispel

Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri – Water Release: Rising Water Slicer

Suiton: Kirigakure no jutsu – Water Release: Hiding in Mist technique

Kurasshu: Yaburu – Crash Magic: Break

Sennin Modo – Sage Mode


	8. Chapter 8

"normal speech"

'_thoughts or flashback'_

'**kurama speech'**

**Chapter 8**

_x779 late September_

"So what's today's question Erza-chan?" Naruto, with a big grin plastered on his face asked Erza as they made their way to Fairy Tail for a late lunch after sleeping in that day.

They didn't have rest days often but when they did they took full advantage. Naruto pushed himself and Erza hard during training but knew when to pause for rest. On their off days he usually slept in as much as he could and Erza followed suit.

Erza frowned and pursed her lips in thought. "I want to know… what you got me for my birthday nii-san?!" She asked as she twirled and stared into his eyes, willing him to answer.

Her eyes grew wide and she had an earnest expression on her face. Quickly Naruto looked away so that he wouldn't cave to her demands.

Naruto pouted and looked slightly dejected. "Now that's unfair Erza-chan. You know I can't tell you that. Just because I said I wouldn't lie when you asked your question for the day doesn't mean you can cheat about your present. So how about I take a pass on this question and answer another one?"

Erza glared lightly before sighing and thinking up another question. She should've expected he would avoid the question.

He always made a big event out of celebrating her birthday. He seemed to like planning and making sure she had a good time. To find out his present to her in this form would have ruined the surprise he always insisted on.

It was nice, having someone fuss over something as trivial as her birthday Erza felt.

It certainly didn't happen at the Tower of Heaven. Even before that she didn't remember anyone making too big a deal about her birthday.

"Fine." She mumbled. "How's Ultear-san doing?" She asked, a little too casually for it to be innocent.

Most would have picked up on what she was doing but Naruto was oblivious to her intentions.

He folded his arms behind his head and looked to the sky. "She's alright I guess. Last I heard from her she…"

Erza only half listened to him as he went on to tell her some mundane things he had talked about with Ultear. She had initially asked in order to set him up for some light teasing like he was prone to do to her but he hadn't reacted the way she would have if asked a similar question.

It was so frustrating to see her brother so oblivious to Ultear's continuous personal appearances at the guild. It's not like it was common to send an aide of the council to visit the guilds personally.

It was even rarer for said aide to stay for the day and catch up with a certain pair of siblings. Especially a certain blonde.

As they walked through the doors of the guild with Naruto still talking about his friend at the Magic Council he noticed Erza requip her armor out of the corner of his eye. He had only recently noticed that she only wore armor when around more people than just him.

She would look like any typical girl when alone with her brother but as soon as anyone else showed up she instantly requipped her armor on. A part of him was touched that she felt comfortable and safe enough in his presence not to wear her armor.

While another part of him wished she was just as comfortable around everyone else not just him.

As they walked into the guild, intent on getting some food to eat, they heard the tail end of a conversation between Laxus and Makarov. Well to be more precise, the tail end of an argument between the two.

"I can handle it jiji! Why don't you want me to take this mission? I'm S-Class already which should be more than enough proof that I can take any S-Class job I want." Laxus demanded angrily from his grandfather.

Sitting atop of the bar calmly and sipping his drink Makarov answered with an almost uncaring tone of voice. "I know you're strong Laxus. But this job, it doesn't sit right with me. There is something fishy going on here. No job that requires recovering stolen objects from a group of thieves should be S-Rank."

Cocking an eyebrow Erza turned to Naruto, "What do you think that's about nii-san?"

He was about to sit down at their table and he shrugged before he responded, "Who knows. Knowing Master Makarov though he's prob-aah!"

He didn't get a chance to finish as he was yanked out of his chair. An infuriated Laxus was stomping out of the guild dragging Naruto along by the scruff of his shirt.

"I'll take Naruto with me then. Maybe if I have backup you won't think I can't handle it anymore." Laxus shouted over his shoulder to his grandfather who still sat atop the bar, unmoving.

Erza frowned slightly in annoyance as this meant that Naruto might not be around for her birthday because of a job. Then she smirked as the sight of her strong older brother being dragged along like a misbehaving child was highly amusing.

As Laxus stormed out of the guild dragging Naruto behind him, the young shinobi also grabbed Erza as he was pulled along. "If I'm going anywhere you're coming too Erza-chan. Can't let you laugh too much at my expense." He muttered.

Erza grinned but followed along sedately.

Laxus didn't even bat an eye at Erza tagging along as he took them to Magnolia Station, knowing after having trained a few times with the siblings that she was already pretty strong.

While not as strong as either of the two blondes, Laxus attributed that to her young age more than any lack of talent or effort. Besides, he truly felt that with he and Naruto along she wouldn't be in much danger anyway.

On the positive side, she was far less annoying whenever her and Mirajane were apart. In fact she was a completely different person without Mirajane challenging her daily.

"You know Laxus a little warning next time might be nice." Naruto grumbled while he massaged his neck, "We didn't even get a chance to pack or anything."

Laxus snorted as he handed the two siblings their tickets for the train.

The job request originated in Lupinus Town so they would have to take a train to Oshibana first. After getting off at Oshibana they would take a carriage to Lupinus Town to meet their client.

"Don't give me that Naruto. I know for a fact that you and Erza carry enough supplies on you in that magic scroll of yours to last at least a week camping out. We'll be in Lupinus Town by tonight if we hurry so we won't even need what you have on you." Laxus replied.

Erza followed the two older boys onto the train where they managed to snag a private compartment for themselves away from the main sitting area. "What type of job are we doing Laxus-san?"

Laxus eyed her a little strangely before replying. "Don't call me –san. It feels weird being addressed so properly from a Scarlet." He'd learned over time that Naruto while seemingly polite wasn't averse to poking fun at people no matter who they were "And I don't want to hear 'honorable grandson' from you either," He quickly added noting the slight smirk on Naruto's face.

The smile didn't fall from his lips as Naruto snatched the job poster out of Laxus' hands as he was pulling it out. A low whistle escaped his lips. "5,500,000 jewels huh? That's quite a reward for tracking down and retrieving stolen valuables." He muttered as he read over the job details.

"Doesn't matter," Laxus said snatching the poster back before smoothing it over and handing it to Erza. "I'm an S-Class mage, I can handle it and even if jiji is paranoid at least now I have the proper back up to make sure nothing goes wrong on this job."

Erza too scanned the contents of the job request that the client had filled out. Although she agreed with her brother that the money for the job was a bit high, she wasn't foolish enough to think the job would be easy.

Even if they hadn't taken S-Class jobs because they weren't allowed, Erza and Naruto had taken part in several dangerous jobs of their own. Something as simple as a treasure hunt or subduing monsters often paid little but had high risks. So if this job was paying out a lot there must be a reason behind that.

"Your faith in our strength is very touching." Naruto commented dryly. "Well wake me up when we get to Oshibana so I can stop and get a bite to eat before we leave again."

With that said the younger of the two blondes leaned back into his seat, crossed his arms behind his head and was out like a light.

Laxus watched him from across the compartment they were sitting in before lifting his headphones to his ears and tuning out as he listened to some music.

Erza decided to use her time to catch up on some reading. She pulled out the latest book from a series that was fast becoming popular all over Fiore.

Soon she was lost in the pages and adventures of Kenshin and his team as they embarked on their latest adventure in _The Kingdom of the Crescent Moon_. (1)

* * *

_later that night Lupinus Town_

The three members of Fairy Tail had arrived at Lupinus Town early in the evening. They asked for directions to their client's home and soon enough were at the address given.

"Right this way gentlemen and lady. Otoribashi-sama will see you now." One of the maids that a mansion this size was almost required to have offered to escort them to her boss.

Following the woman through the mansion Naruto let out an impressed whistle. "Very nice. I can see why they can afford to pay so much to get back their stuff back."

Laxus grunted in agreement as he too was impressed by the décor of the home. Arranged along the walls they were walking by were priceless works of art, paintings, sculptures, vases and the like.

The very carpet they were walking on was obviously of high quality and screamed wealth. The ceilings were high and Naruto could swear that gold leaf decorated the halls abundantly.

The maid they followed led them to what must have been the private study of the client. Shelves filled with books lined the walls, and the man himself sat behind a beautiful mahogany desk sifting through some papers. A window overlooked the impressive property sat behind him. He looked up as his guests entered.

"Your guests have arrived Otoribashi-sama." The maid informed. The man looked up from work to see the members of Fairy Tail and smiled.

He was a rather friendly looking man, with an open air about him. Black hair with slight streaks of gray, and dressed in a business suit. All in all he wasn't flashing his wealth around as much as he could have.

"Thank you my dear. Now if you could please bring our guests some refreshments I would appreciate that." The client informed her politely.

"Of course sir." She said bowing before turning to the three teenagers. "Will tea be alright?" She asked.

"We're fine as we are. Thank you though." Laxus responded for all of them. Naruto looked a little put out at missing a chance to eat some more but didn't argue.

"So I was informed that Fairy Tail accepted the job. Please have a seat." He gestured towards the chairs on the other side of his desk.

All three members of the guild knew how job requests were carried out. For the lower ranked jobs they were sent out to multiple guilds near the job location. Often as many as 9-10 guilds received the same job flier. The first to accept it would mark it down in their ledger and be transmitted to all other guilds that it was no longer available.

Unless a specific guild was requested for the job of course.

S-Rank jobs were only slightly different. Only a maximum of 3 copies of the job were sent out to the guilds, and only guilds with S-Rank mages. If multiple guilds sent out mages to the same job then it was a first come first serve basis. Of course if a guild accepted a job it wasn't immediately put down as completed. S-Rank jobs were harder so often they were only noted down as taken and wouldn't be scratched out until the client themselves confirmed completion.

Naruto took a moment to look at their client. He knew appearances could be deceiving so he didn't want to judge him based on looks alone. Yet his sharp experienced eyes could pick up tell tale signs of stress and weariness no matter how much the client tried to hide it. He had bags under his eyes, his clothes were slightly ruffled and looked thrown on in a hurry, and he had slight stubble on his face, like he had neglected to shave.

He shrugged it off. Maybe the man was a workaholic? Naruto took a seat alongside Erza and Laxus.

"Forgive me for sounding rude but… you three are awfully young aren't you? I classified the job as S-Rank myself and paid the appropriate reward. It's too dangerous for anything less." The client asked as he looked the three young Fairy Tail members over.

"Let me introduce myself and my team Otoribashi-sama." Laxus said as he turned to his two companions. "I am Laxus Dreyar an S-Rank mage who is qualified for S-Rank jobs; this is my friend Naruto Scarlet who is just as strong as me and will probably become S-Rank this year. We also brought his sister Erza Scarlet another strong wizard of Fairy Tail. We are young but I was tested and passed on the S-Rank exams by one of the Ten Wizard Saints himself." It was a bit of a bitter pill to swallow, knowing he was still under his grandfather's shadow and his reputation is what often dispelled disbelief of Laxus' own rank.

"My name is Kazuo Otoribashi, you may call me Kazuo. I'm sorry for underestimating you. But as you will soon find out, I didn't want to risk endangering children by sending them on such a high rank job. Even if you are wizards." Kazuo tried placating them.

"Don't worry." Naruto said cheerfully. "We're strong! So it's okay!"

Kazuo merely nodded, slightly amused at the chipper tone of the younger blonde. "Now then. There is more to this job than I was able to put on the request paper. There are certain complications that wouldn't let me do so, and they might put your guild in a bad light. Do you wish to continue knowing this?"

All three teenagers held their silence and waited for him to continue.

"Very well. As the job poster claimed, you were hired to help recover stolen merchandise from a group of bandits and thieves that have been terrorizing not only this town but my caravans for the last few weeks." Kazuo paused to pull out a small file.

"The reason this may make your guild look bad is in this folder." He pointed at the file, "I wish for you to locate the bandits, their headquarters or whatever and destroy it. Now we both know that this is frowned upon by the Rune Knights as they would rather you incapacitate them and they be arrested. Unfortunately these particular bandits are also suspected of kidnapping people from this town."

Laxus frowned at the new information. Not at that it would make the guild look bad, because unless they used excessive force there really was no risk of that. No it was because he was confused over why the Rune Knights weren't more heavily involved if these bandits were kidnapping people.

Kazuo continued as he saw the confused look on Laxus' face. "We don't have proof of the bandits being involved or being the ones responsible for that. The Rune Knights don't want to get involved they say and want to keep their suspects open in case it's someone else." Kazuo muttered some insults under his breath at the Rune Knights. "I also have a personal stake in this, I admit."

Now Naruto understood why Kazuo looked so tired and worn out. After revealing that certain people were kidnapped as well as the stuff they had stolen, Naruto could only assume Kazuo had someone he knew personally kidnapped as well.

"My daughter has been missing for the last two weeks. The Rune Knights have given up hope as we received no ransom offers or anything of the sort but I… I can't just give up. So that's why I hired you wizards. Please, find the bandit camp and destroy it but also keep a look out for any clues to my daughter's whereabouts." He paused as his voice cracked and recomposed himself. "At the very least if you can't find her, then please allow me some closure. I need to know her fate as it's getting harder every day to keep my hopes up about her well being."

Erza was stoic but sympathetic to the man and only nodded her head.

Laxus gave a resigned nod at accepting the job under new and different conditions.

Naruto though, he was sad and understood exactly what Kazuo wanted. If not his daughter back alive and well then he hoped to confirm her death. Kazuo was realistic enough to know the worst might have happened and only wanted closure.

"We'll complete this job in spite of your worries Otoribashi-san." Laxus stood and offered his hand. "We'll take all the information you have about these bandits and use whatever methods we can to find them. You have our word on that."

"Thank you. I have arranged for rooms to be available for you at an inn in town. Please, inform me of any new information or anything you might need to help you get this done." Kazuo shook the blonde's hand gratefully.

"Just one question though Kazuo-san." Naruto interjected before they left.

Kazuo sat back down and looked at the younger blonde. "Of course. I'll answer any question you have."

"Why haven't the Rune Knights located their headquarters themselves? I mean, even without the kidnapping they should at least be able to go out and stop a group of robbers and thieves." Naruto questioned curiously.

Kazuo nodded in agreement before explaining. "It seems that this particular group of bandits has wizards of their own. They have some sort of magic that both, allows them to conceal their location as well as disguise themselves. Also they have the sense to set up various safeguards to make sure none of them are ever followed."

Nodding in thanks, Naruto now understood the situation a little better. "I see now. Thank you. I can understand why they have been so successful then. If they are organized enough and have wizards helping them out."

As they left the mansion and headed to the inn, all had varying thoughts running through their heads. None doubted or questioned why Kazuo Otoribashi in particular was targeted. His wealth was obvious so it left little doubt why anyone would rob him.

No, Naruto was curious why his daughter wasn't being ransomed or something of the sort. The possibility that they didn't know it was her daughter was slim but existed. It did worry him though, that there might be another reason she wasn't being held for ransom. A very bad reason.

While making their way to town, Naruto asked Laxus to leaf through the folder of information. The folder contained the locations and names of all the people robbed, with Kazuo Otoribashi being the most common but not looking to be specifically targeted.

He was a rich shipping magnate. His company one of the most popular in Fiore so it stood to reason they targeted him for his cargo nothing truly personal. His company often shipped and transported valuable jewels, art, or money itself between locations.

Deciding to think more on the matter after a good night's sleep, the members of Fairy Tail agreed to meet bright and early before departing for their rooms. Each one had their own and agreed to start looking for the bandits immediately after breakfast.

* * *

_Honeybone Inn_

Three days. It had taken them three days to root out the thieves and locate their headquarters. Due to the information provided and judicious use of shadow clones, Naruto, Erza and Laxus had split up to stake out the most likely places the thieves would show up. As soon as they found one they tried various methods to follow the thief back to their base.

Unsurprisingly Naruto was the one to successfully tail and follow the thieves to their lair.

Laxus was immediately found out when he followed his target as he had all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop. The person he was following quickly caught sight of him and did everything to lose him.

Erza did a little better but in the end she actually grew impatient and beat up the thief she followed and put him in the hospital. From there anytime Erza entered his line of sight the bandit clammed up and fainted on the spot.

Naruto alone was able to hide and blend in well enough whenever the thief grew suspicious of being followed. Coupled with an extensive use of the _Henge_ technique and Naruto was able to make sure no one noticed it was him following the target.

Now they all had gathered in Naruto's room to discuss their next step in completing the job.

"So I took these pictures." Naruto pulled out a few photographs and threw them on the table. "As you can see, they've actually set up a pretty good location for their base. They have solid rock at the back and sides with a river at the front. So that means we can only enter from above or the front."

As Naruto talked he pointed to the various natural defenses the base had that made it a virtual fortress. They had built the base into the mountain side it seemed so there was nothing behind it but solid rock. It would be virtually impossible to climb the mountain and descend onto the fortress. It was too steep and the rocks would be too slippery for them not to be noticed on top of being very dangerous.

The valley walls provided the base with solid and impenetrable defenses as well. There was no need to build walls if the mountain itself could provide them.

Laxus nodded and motioned for Naruto to keep going.

"The compound itself has a several interconnected buildings. One looks like the place where they sleep, another a storage place for food and such and the last the storage for their stolen loot. There's a river that cuts through the mountain and in front of the fortress which provides another natural defense for it. The only way to cross that thing is if they lower the draw bridge when they bring things in. If you try and swim the current would probably sweep you away and taking a boat is just stupid." Naruto explained as he pointed out the various landmarks and building on his photographs.

Erza spoke up as she came to the same conclusion Naruto had obviously had earlier. "So what you're saying is that you and I have to sneak in and then let Laxus in isn't that right nii-san?"

The young Dreyar frowned and wondered how they expected to do that. Naruto had just told them how unlikely it was to climb down from above the base and foolish to try and swim or cross with a boat from in front.

Naruto nodded grimly. "Yeah. Only you and I can walk on walls Erza-chan. It might be a little rough at first since we need to drop fast but we should be able to climb the mountain and then run down the sides without falling to our death or getting caught. I know you can walk on water now too but unless we plan on attacking at night I'd rather not risk taking the front door to get inside."

Surprised at what they were talking about Laxus then remembered exactly what the two Scarlet siblings could do. He'd once seen both Naruto and Erza spar on top of the water but thought nothing of it. It wasn't until now that the practical applications for such a skill came into play.

"That sounds like the best way to go but what'll I do in the meantime?" Laxus asked.

"We were hired to locate the stuff that was stolen from Otoribashi-san and perhaps locate or dig up any info on his missing daughter. After that we were to destroy the bandits' base and break up their operation. Erza-chan and I can handle the first two but we need you to help us with the last. How far along are you with mastering that new move of yours? _Kaminari Den (Thunder Palace)_?" The younger blonde asked.

Laxus furrowed his brow in thought, trying to assess and give an honest answer. "Not as far as I want. I can only store and remote activate about 4-5 lacrima. Anything more and it either doesn't go off or goes off without my say so."

Erza looked between her brother and Laxus. She knew that they sometimes trained together and would spar but didn't realize that they would share techniques.

As far as she knew, Laxus was rather prideful, wanting to get strong on his own. The fact that he was willing to share and perhaps train his magic with Naruto was surprising. It went against how he acted most of the time, wanting to make a name for himself without anyone aiding him.

The young shinobi scratched his head in thought and tried to come up with a suitable plan. "That'll be alright I guess. We can always plant some explosive tags too. We might just use them for a distraction though so we can lower the gate and let you in. Once all three of us are inside we can destroy their base, retrieve the valuables and knock out the thieves for the Rune Knights."

Laxus looked over all the pictures again, glad that he had brought Naruto and Erza along now. While it was true he was S-Class and starting to make a name for himself, there were just certain things he couldn't do. That's where Naruto and Erza proved invaluable. They had skills he either wished no part in gaining or would take too long to master to a useful level.

After they hashed out a few more details and worked out a plan of attack Laxus leaned back into his chair and sighed deeply. "Man this stuff is boring. I wish we could just go in and blow everyone to kingdom come."

Erza too was a little tired of all the plans and everything else they had to think of. While she wasn't as excitable as Naruto or a pyromaniac like Natsu, she too wished they could just keep things simple and destroy the base without additional planning.

"Naruto," Laxus called the younger blondes attention to him, "I've been wondering. Kazuo later apologized for not recognizing my name immediately the other day. I'm not world famous like Gildarts but I have a small reputation now. Yet he didn't react to your name or Erza's at all. I know you're strong so what gives? I find it hard to believe no one recognizes either of you by now."

Naruto snorted and just stayed silent.

"Well? Answer me." Laxus badgered him but Naruto continued to keep his mouth shut.

Exasperated at Naruto's childishness Erza answered for him. "That's because most people think he's a good luck charm instead of strong."

Confused Laxus asked, "What? What's that supposed to mean?"

Erza shrugged and explained. "On the jobs he's taken that would usually attract criminal or dark wizards' attention he's managed to make it so the client is never harmed by any crook or thief. Jobs where he is a courier or a bodyguard almost always end with little to no confrontations at all."

The older blonde merely tilted his head in confusion. "Wouldn't that prove that he's strong though? If he takes them out before they get to the client?"

Scarlet hair twirled around her as Erza shook her head. "No. Like I said, they just think Naruto-aniki is good luck for avoiding trouble. Really it's because nii-san sends shadow clones ahead and around him to keep a look out all the time and they take care of any trouble."

Laxus let out a bark of laughter. "Ha! That's hilarious. You're doing your job so well and proving you're so strong that no one even believes it's you really doing something. You're seen about as useful as a rabbit's foot."

Naruto jumped to his feet and shoved a finger in Laxus' face. "You shut up teme! You're just jealous that I'm so awesome no one believes how awesome I am. In fact I'm so awesome that I have to lower my awesomeness in order for people to catch a glimpse of my sheer awesome."

More laughter filled the room. "Whatever you say Naruto. You're just in denial."

Erza felt a small tug on her lips as she watched Naruto try and convince Laxus how 'awesome' he was. He was getting more and more excited and making less sense as time went on. The word 'awesome' must have been said several dozen times already as far as Erza knew and Naruto looked like he was ready to keep going.

Yet she knew that this was really just an act.

Naruto didn't care about his reputation or his fame as one of Fairy Tail's members. He had once confessed to Erza that he did his jobs as quietly as possible so that he could avoid bringing attention to himself. He hated having so much attention in Konoha after the war. That it got to the point where he hid himself and avoided the people.

Naruto didn't want a repeat of that in Fiore.

Continued teasing from Laxus broke Erza out of her thoughts as Naruto grew indignant.

"You know it's hard to take you seriously while you're wearing froggy pajamas." Laxus pointed out.

Naruto puffed out his chest proudly. "You're jealous. That's alright, not everyone can pull off a look this good. It takes a certain kind of person to look as good as me while wearing these pajamas. Only Erza-chan and I call pull this off successfully."

Only now did Laxus notice that Erza too wore froggy pajamas. Hers were pink though and the frogs were playing leap-frog with one another.

Erza showed no shame in wearing them and actually gave a rather proud nod to show she agreed.

Laxus shrugged it off and assumed it was a family thing.

Naruto then slammed his hand onto the table, "Besides you have no room to talk Laxus! You're the one that dragged Erza-chan in my room this late at night and insisted on a meeting instead of letting me sleep after a hard day of work."

Erza glared at Laxus for that reminder but eventually just sighed and rose to go back to her room.

Laxus looked at Naruto and commented dryly. "My apologies. I'll let you get back to your beauty sleep then."

Naruto waved if off and quipped, "No need to apologize Laxus. I was more worried about Erza-chan's beauty sleep. She definitely needs the rest more than me."

"Oh. Is that right nii-san?" Erza gave him a dark and murderous glare as she cracked her knuckles and walked towards him.

Unaware of the impending danger Naruto had his eyes closed and nodded sagely. "Yep. You know me Erza-chan. Always looking out for what's best for you."

Laxus smirked and walked out of the room right as the cries of pain and sounds of broken furniture started. He whistled a jaunty tune and prepared himself for bed, once more glad that he had brought the two siblings along. They provided just as much entertainment as Natsu was annoying.

* * *

_bandit camp West Mountains_

Sharp blue and brown eyes assessed the surroundings, experience gained in his time before arriving in Fiore now proving priceless. He scanned the guards doing their rounds down below him and the lights surveying the ground randomly.

The Scarlet siblings peered into the compound from their position atop the high walls of the mountain.

Naruto frowned behind his owl stylized mask. This group of bandits and thieves was too well organized and structured for them to be involved in simple robbery. There absolutely _had _to be something else going on here.

There was no other explanation for armed guards patrolling the perimeter, guards in the towers overlooking the grounds, and wizards that specialized in hiding things as well as being sensors.

Their headquarters location was already impressive and difficult to assault, what did they need the guards for? There was too much manpower to simply guard the stolen loot. It would easily be pawned off in the black market anyways, so it's not like they were collecting it for themselves.

Laxus would never have been able to infiltrate this base alone; he'd sooner blow it up from the outside. Naruto was tempted to do so too but they had a job to do on top of destroying the base, and that was hopefully finding information on the kidnapped daughter of Kazuo Otoribashi. He turned to look at Erza and was glad that he'd drilled her as hard as he had for her to join him.

For this particular infiltration, taking place late at night, Erza had donned clothing similar to Naruto's description of ANBU garb. She wore a long sleeve black turtleneck. The sleeves went to her wrists but extended a bit at the top to allow a finger to slip through a loop in the cloth so it covered the back of the hand. On the back was stitched the Uzumaki clan symbol which she'd copied off Naruto's own clothes where he had it on his vest and shoulders usually.

She wore black tights and chose boots over Naruto's feiyue plain black shoes. A red skirt was worn over her tights and a tan, armored vest made from ballistic fibers completed her ensemble.

She had wanted to wear plated armor originally but Naruto told her the vest would allow for better maneuverability which was crucial for his line of work. Erza only relented after he explained how many different fibers made up the vest to provide near perfect protection from stabbing and explosions. (2)

She also had a sword strapped to her side and wore a female white face mask stylized to look like a masquerade queen mask. It was colored in golds and black with a crown going around the forehead. Naruto was confused at first over why she wanted a mask as she made fun of his owl one so he bought her a queen one for being 'a royal pain', which only earned him a slap on the head.

Naruto himself wore his standard shinobi clothing that he donned when out on jobs. The regular flak jacket over long sleeve black shirt and loose fitting black pants tied off at the ankles. He still wore his plain black feiyue shoes that he much preferred over shinobi sandals if only because they provided the same amount of comfort and durability while keeping his feet warm. He wore his clan symbol proudly on his vest as well as on the shoulders of his shirt.

The masked blonde performed a few hand signs to indicate they move forward and scout out the camp. They would look for any information they could and valuables. Since they could both make sealing scrolls from scratch if need be they would each store and steal back all valuables they found.

Erza quickly signed back in the affirmative but did take the _Hiraishin _kunai Naruto handed her. With their small plan agreed upon they split up after they signed to meet up again in two hours.

If nothing could be found about the kidnapped daughter in that time frame they would just set the charges, the lacrima, and signal Laxus to detonate them. One way or another this camp would be razed to the ground come sunrise.

It took a long while for Naruto to thoroughly check the compound for any escape exits the bandits would have. He checked the perimeters and took out the guards in the two towers overlooking the gate.

He performed a single seal and a few _Kage Bunshin_ popped up. They nodded silently at their creator and transformed into the knocked out guards with the help of _Henge_. From there they signaled Laxus that they were in since he'd last seen them running across the water in the dark.

If Laxus had not been signaled by the allotted time then he would immediately attack the base and raise a racket to allow his teammates an opportunity to escape if they were captured.

Fifteen minutes before they were to meet up Naruto felt the tell tale tingle near his chakra core that signaled a _Hiraishin_ kunai had been thrown. He immediately transported himself to the kunai that he knew only Erza could have possibly thrown.

Only a slight whoosh of air signified his appearance as Naruto arrived, ready for battle. Instead he found himself hugging an angry and overwhelmed Erza as she buried her face in his chest.

She tried to mumble something but he couldn't understand her.

Taking the time to look around, he was surprised and slightly horrified at what he saw. He had seen many things before in his life, blood, gore and guts splattered on the battlefield. Experiments gone wrong and monstrosities created by scum like Orochimaru.

Eventually you lose the shock and horror at seeing that. You grow indifferent to such things in the shinobi world. Yet no matter what he would never be able to get used to things like he saw now.

In front of him, in what he suspected was the basement to one of the buildings he saw from the outside, were scores of women, old men and children. They were dirty, and beaten, obviously mistreated and wore only minimal clothing. They were all in cages like animals, tied down in chains. He didn't count exactly but there must have been well over eighty people here.

He looked around and took note of the knocked out guards that were supposed to be watching the people. It was obvious now why Erza was acting this way. This was a slave camp, a place where they brought women and children before they were sold into slavery elsewhere.

With Erza's history at the Tower of Heaven it was little surprise that she reacted violently.

The guards were beaten pretty badly and more than a few had vicious bruises and teeth missing.

Naruto idly noted that only the first few at the door had paralysis seals attached and after that they were all unconscious. Likely because Erza hadn't taken notice of what the room contained at first and then decided to beat up the guards after she had.

He consoled Erza for a little bit and waited patiently for her to gather herself. She didn't cry but she did hold him tightly, refusing to break down in front of her brother.

After reigning in her temper and sure her hands wouldn't shake or show weakness she looked up into his eyes. "We have to help them nii-san. Please." She pleaded.

Naruto looked around and tried to think of a way to do so. They weren't hired nor were they prepared to take down a large slave camp of this scale. They hadn't taken into account all the people held prisoner here and so didn't find out the patrol routes, the number of enemies, or a means to transport them out of here.

In short, it didn't look good for them.

Though now he did understand why there were patrols and why they were so organized. An organization like this, providing slaves on the black market brought in large amounts of money.

There was only one way to do this that he could think of, but if they did that then he'd need Erza to help. "Fine. We'll get them out of here. Unlock their cages and try to earn their trust so that they all gather in the middle of the room. After that tell them to hold hands and then you need to sneak out of here and head towards Laxus."

Erza nodded gratefully and immediately set out to do what she was told. She removed her mask in order to get the prisoners to trust her and their eyes widened in surprise that a simple teenage girl had done what none of them could do. Overpower and knock out their captors.

Meanwhile Naruto took out four of his tri-pronged kunai and marked off a square where the prisoners would stand in. He stuck them into the ground and then took out a brush and ink. Carefully, with speedy precision he drew scripts, characters, hairlines, and serifs into the ground connecting all four kunai.

His goal was to make a modified _Jikukan Kekkai (Space Time Barrier)_. He would love to just use the _Hiraishin_ to get everyone out of there but he could only take a few people at a time with that technique, mainly only those he could touch. It would take too long and they ran the risk of discovery if any new guards showed up before he was done.

Once she completed her task and got everyone to trust her and stand in the square marked by scripts of advanced sealing formula, Erza headed to Naruto. "They're all in there nii-san. Though it would help if you took off your mask for them to trust you too."

Naruto nodded and took off his mask. One that he felt a bit of pride wearing considering Kakashi once told him his father was assigned that mask in the past.

He handed Erza the kunai back that she'd originally used to call him. "Now head out and meet up with Laxus. Once you're with him and explained the situation, throw this kunai down and I'll transport all the people to you."

Erza pocketed the kunai and hugged him tightly before putting the mask back on. She quickly took off through the door and disappeared into the shadows.

Naruto walked over to the prisoners and unsealed what few spare clothes he had for the ones that needed them. From there he explained what they would need to do and what it was he hoped to accomplish to get them out of here.

"You must be a powerful mage young man, if you can use a single spell to transport us all out of here. I've never heard of _Shunshin no Maho_ (Teleportation Magic) being used in this way before." One of the older men spoke up after everything was explained.

The young blonde scratched his head sheepishly and gave him a nervous half smile. "I'm pretty good I guess. Just everyone hold on tight now, as soon as I get the signal you'll be on your way."

All the women and children huddled together. Some gave him a grateful smile while others were anxious to finally leave the place. After another few minutes, some of the people grew a little restless.

Suddenly Naruto, who had been sitting in a meditative position outside of the seal array, snapped his eyes open and sprung to his feet. "Hold on tight everybody. It's a little disorienting at first so close your eyes if you want to."

That said Naruto's hands blurred through a multitude of hand seals before slamming his palm on the ground. Taking this many people out of here, no matter the distance, required a large amount of chakra. Even if they weren't shinobi, the sensors at the camp would notice the sudden flare of energy and investigate.

Not only that but he was sure there was some sort of monitoring system in place to keep track of all the people here. If a few of them started disappearing randomly someone would be sent to check the place out.

Naruto had a blue glow surround him for a split second before his chakra dispersed into the seal array. The seals glowed brightly and then pulsed.

The ground seemed to sink for a brief second, space twisted and the image of the people was distorted as if looking through a heat-haze before they all quickly disappeared. Naruto dropped to his knees to gulp several deep breaths.

True to his word, he'd refrained from using any of Kurama's chakra in the past few years. His oath was to free his friend and no longer rely on his power, yet using a large scale jikukan jutsu like this had tired even Naruto out. It would be near impossible for anyone else. After catching his breath and collecting the four kunai, Naruto erased the seals on the floor.

Not that anyone could understand them, but it was better safe than sorry. He then quickly flashed over to the kunai he could sense just outside of the base and appeared before an irate Laxus and Erza.

He landed with barely a whisper in the wind and looked around to where he sent everyone. It was a good location, hidden behind some boulders and rocks so they weren't in sight of the towers in the compound. It wasn't too far away either, which is why Laxus had chosen to wait there but still gave him enough distance to escape if necessary.

From their location to the front gates it was a little under half a mile, plenty of space to react to whatever would come out of the front gates and over the river.

Erza was quietly handing out some of her own spare clothes and making sure to keep everyone together. She reassured them that they would all leave soon but it wasn't a good idea to take off on your own.

"Why did you have to come back and send Erza back too Naruto? Wouldn't it have been easier to destroy the place like we planned even after you got all these people out?" Laxus quietly demanded.

"No. Those plans of before all demanded the element of surprise. We would have all needed to stay in there and taken those bandits out. Because of my technique to get them out of there though, I had to use a lot of power and I'm sure at least one of the wizards in there took notice." Just as he finished saying that, alarms blared in the compound.

Fresh memories from his clones confirmed what he just said. Apparently someone had noticed they were impostors and taken them out before raising the alarm.

Laxus grunted, annoyed at the new developments. "So what now? We can't just let that camp stand, we still have to take it down if they are in the slave trade and the Rune Knights won't be here for hours if we tell them about it."

Naruto sighed and rubbed his temple tiredly. "How fast can you run Laxus?"

The scarred blonde quirked an eyebrow. "Really fast, why?"

Erza waved at the people around them that though happy, were too tired to rejoice at having their freedom again. "These people need help Laxus. We need someone to get back to town and bring help for them. Nii-san could transport them there but we would still need someone to put a kunai in town to set the destination. We need someone fast so that rules me out."

"What will we do about the camp though? We still need to destroy it. Plus I know Naruto is fast so why can't he go?" Laxus pressed.

"You mean apart from the fact that I'm the one that has to be here to send them there? Activate your _Kaminari Den (Thunder Palace)_ Laxus. I have a few extra surprises in store for the bandits once they come out. I can hold them off until you come back. I'm the only one here with enough raw stamina and power to do so." Naruto's eyes were hard as he told them this.

Erza looked on in wonder at her older brother. This was the side of Naruto that she called his 'mission' mode. When not on jobs, Naruto was much calmer, often cracking jokes and very open about what he was thinking.

When on jobs though, serious ones, his character shifted radically. He didn't brag or exaggerate on things as he said it resulted in accidents or injury. Often he kept his thoughts to himself and didn't bother with small talk. If he said only he could hold the enemy off long enough, well Erza was inclined to believe him.

The sounds back at the compound grew louder. As the drawbridge was starting to lower, Laxus finally nodded his head in Naruto's direction to take off. He activated his spell in the lacrima and watched as it blew the bridge to smithereens, knowing that Erza and Naruto had set it there originally to allow him entry.

Lighting surrounded his body and Laxus settled into a runner's stance before he took off towards Lupinus town. Once he was but a small speck in the distance, Naruto turned to Erza. "I'm going to ask that you stay out of this Erza-chan. It's a shame we couldn't recover the stolen stuff but I can't risk those guys getting away so I'm going to blow that place sky high."

Erza frowned in confusion but understood once Naruto's form flickered before a bright yellow glow like the sun erupted around him. He was enshrouded in a cloak of power, a cloak of chakra belonging to Kurama, his tenant.

'_**You know brat, you could do this on your own no problem but I've been caged long enough myself to know that it's unpleasant. Take my power, take it and show them why it's a bad idea to lock anything up.'**_Kurama growled out as he provided Naruto with his chakra cloak.

Erza was wide eyed at the sheer aura of power Naruto was giving off. It was incredible and suffocating, while providing an aura of warmth.

"Why didn't you just send a clone back to Lupinus town nii-san? Laxus could have helped us here." Erza asked wondering what was going on.

Naruto flexed his fingers, trying to get a feel back for the power he hadn't had a reason to use in years, even while in Konoha. "This is one of those family secret things Erza-chan. I don't want it to get out that I can do things like this."

"Ok. I promise." She somewhat understood what he was saying. It tied back to his avoidance of being in the spotlight. He didn't feel like showing off his full power or trying to gain fame. "What about all the people we rescued though, don't you care if they see?"

"I released a couple pellets of sleeping gas around when Laxus took off." Naruto jerked a thumb backwards. "They should all be out cold by now and won't wake up till tomorrow."

When she turned to look Erza found that all the people were indeed knocked out. _'It must have been odorless or something since I didn't hear anyone cry out about it.'_ She mused quietly.

Without a word or hand seal, Naruto created two clones. One walked over to guard the sleeping escapees while the original took out the compound. The other wordlessly took off in the compounds direction, instructions already given by the original.

Quickly Erza took a hold of Naruto's arm before he went off somewhere too.

She looked into his eyes as he had removed his mask and pleaded. "Let me help nii-san. This," she waved at the scrambling bandits, "this isn't right. Let me help to make sure no one else can suffer in this place again."

Naruto looked her in the eyes searching for something. Searching for why she wanted to really do this. As long as it wasn't out of revenge or hatred he would let her help. He didn't want to encourage or fan the hatred that seeking revenge would bring out.

Finding nothing but slight anger, fear and what looked like disgust he slowly nodded.

"Fine. Hold my hand." She grasped his hand and gasped as she was engulfed in raw power.

It was a power she'd felt only once before, when he had shared Kurama's power with her to let her perform a high rank jutsu. He had done it so she could learn that control, not just power were needed for it to work as she was frustrated at not having the chakra capacity Naruto had.

It was one of the only times Naruto had seen Erza lose her temper. She was angry at not making progress on the jutsu even though Naruto had specifically told her she didn't have the power to use it. He only gave it to her to increase her hand seal speed and to make her improve her control.

Without the raw chakra necessary to power the jutsu in its intended purpose, all Erza would be able to do is shape it and learn how to control its direction. It was a different form of chakra shape manipulation than the r_asengan_ and one that focused on keeping the shape up while the jutsu wasn't attached to the body like the _rasengan_ was.

Naruto had shared Kurama's power that day in order to get her to see that she was improving but it meant little if she didn't master the basics first. She tried to use it on Naruto and he easily dispersed it by disrupting the chakra flowing into shaping the jutsu. No matter how much power and chakra Erza poured into it Naruto would force it to disperse by disrupting the chakra flow, something that wouldn't happen if she had better control.

Now Erza too glowed a bright golden yellow. Chakra flickered around her like flames kissing the kindling in a fire. She had experienced it once before but felt too angry to be grateful or appreciative of what she received. Now though, she had a purpose and a good one to use the chakra for.

She took a few deep breaths to try and steady her nerves before she turned to Naruto who had been watching her all the while. "Thank you nii-san. I won't let you down. Now what do we do? And why did you send a clone into the compound?"

"We wait." Exactly what for was answered as a bright bolt of lightning flashed through the sky and struck inside the fortress. "I sent my clone in there to tell the thieves to get out, we're not here to kill them, just to break them up and turn them over to the Rune Knights. The clone also started in on the destruction by giving us a signal."

Erza nodded grimly. She may have felt disgusted at what the thieves and kidnappers had done but she didn't want them to die for it. She didn't want their blood on her hands, not like when she lost control at the Tower of Heaven.

"Ok then nii-san. I'm going to get into position then. I won't let you down." A quick one handed seal later, and Erza disappeared with a water _shunshin_. She reappeared a few seconds later atop the river already going through her hand seals.

The blonde chuckled as he too started flying though hand seals. His chakra cloak pulsed and swirled around him the farther along he got, it flickered in sync with Erza's own cloak.

Whether on purpose or not Erza and Naruto both formed their last seal at the exact same time. While neither of them could hear the other both also called out their jutsu at the same time.

Stopping on the horse seal and gathering all the chakra currently surrounding her, Erza called out the strongest jutsu she knew of her only affinity. "_Suiton: Seiryuu no Oonami (Water Style: Eastern Dragon Surge)__"_

Below her, the water surged, it buckled and folded in upon itself as it rose with Erza up top. She held the horse seal and maintained control over the chakra. The wave rose higher and higher, until it finally shaped itself into a dragon's head, mouth open intent on devouring everything in its path. With a bestial roar, that she wasn't sure if she actually heard, the massive tidal wave took off and headed straight at the kidnappers fortress, easily surpassing the height of the walls.

The jutsu had all the raw power of a monstrous tsunami with the the control provided by a person so it was concentrated. The waters churned and swirled, raging power just begging to be unleashed.

Behind her and standing firmly on the shore, Naruto finished his own hand seals ending on the dog seal for wind. His chakra twisted and surged around him, transforming into wind natured chakra and creating a tornado wall around Naruto. "_Fuuton: Byakko no Kiba (Wind Style: Western Tiger Fang)._"

The tornado wall of wind, already finely honed and ready to slice everything to pieces, twisted into the form of a white tiger. It stood menacingly above Naruto before it seemed to let out a roar of its own and pounced. Quickly it made its way towards the thieves fortress, fully intent on tearing it apart.

Together, tiger and dragon, rushed towards the compound. They ran side by side, not touching nor getting in the others way. They were completely separate until they breached the walls, once there lightning came down once more from the skies and both the dragon and tiger leapt into its path.

The attacks collided, blowing everything around them apart. A booming shockwave of wind, cut through everything it reached, the water of the dragon crashed into all the buildings and tore into them like they were made of paper. The lightning followed all available paths of destruction, bouncing everywhere.

Damaging was too light a word to describe its effects. Destruction was more accurate. In short, a literal and concentrated hurricane had descended and exploded upon the fortress.

As he looked upon the damage in awe, Naruto let loose a few words that he had not thought of till seeing the destruction. With an almost reverent whisper he choked out, "_Konbijutsu: Howaito Tenpesuto (Collaboration Jutsu: White Tempest)_"

Since his clone had been in the middle of all the fallout and popped, Naruto got back all the information he needed. His clone had warned the thieves and bandits of their impending doom, advising them to escape through the front as the goal was to destroy the base not kill them.

Some listened and some didn't. His clone had then started on the destruction and used the jutsu _Kurosusandā (Cross Thunder) _to surround itself with positive streamers and call down lightning to strike. One of those bolts of lightning had luckily struck just as both Erza's and Naruto's jutsu had reached the compound to destroy it.

Instead of exploding the jutsu prematurely or lowering it in power as often happens, all three had synced together and formed an even stronger jutsu. One that was by all means a miniature but incredibly powerful tempest. Winds sliced into buildings, moving at incredible velocity and the water and lightning combined to cause even more damage.

The fortress and buildings in the compound were soon reduced to nothing but rubble. Buildings had entire chunks carved out of them and the roads and walls had huge gashes and gauges like a large beast had scratched them. The power of the storm was terrifying for any that saw it.

After he had gathered Erza up, since she was so tired after such a massive expenditure of chakra, Naruto created a few dozen clones to round up any straggler thieves before they made their getaway. Many of them hid in the emergency tunnels that Naruto had searched for earlier in the night.

Just as the sunlight was peeking above the horizon, and Naruto had redrawn the seal array around the recently rescued people, he felt the familiar tug near his chakra core. Once more he flew through the hand seals and instantly transported everyone to what appeared to be a lobby of a large hospital.

It seems like Laxus had really come through for them after all.

The next day, after the Rune Knights had arrested the remaining thieves that Naruto's clones had kept watch over, the Fairy Tail members were all called to meet Kazuo Otoribashi.

He had found his daughter amongst the kidnapped women and proceeded to thank the impromptu three man team over and over again. Tears in his eyes he swore to always go to Fairy Tail for any jobs he would need in the future, especially after he heard from his daughter how it had been Naruto and Erza who rescued them from their cages, and Laxus who immediately rushed off to get help. Without any one of the three, things wouldn't have gone nearly as smoothly.

He also dismissed their apologies at not reclaiming the stolen loot from the thieves. "All the money in the world would mean nothing without my daughter. I can't thank you enough." Was his response to such apologies.

Erza grinned proudly at being able to help and Laxus wore a smug expression as they all boarded the train back to Magnolia. It had been a job well done for the three of them, and Naruto had completed it without any serious complications or harm befalling Erza.

Once they arrived in Magnolia they all got up and started to make their way back to the guild. Naruto as he stepped off the train commented off handedly, "Yo Laxus. Since this was your mission and it's your fault we didn't pack appropriately, I'm holding you responsible for replenishing my supplies and clothes we used."

Erza looked over at the shocked blonde and said in a stoic manner, "Thank you for your generosity Laxus-san." She then bowed slightly and followed her bored looking brother out of the train station.

Sputtering indignantly Laxus finally recovered his higher motor functions before he roared, "Like hell I will! You guys got paid too. I'm not spending my money on you guys just cause you were nice to those people. Hey! Are you even listening to me Naruto? Erza! Don't just walk away from me."

As Naruto walked away with Erza and Laxus chasing after them, his carefully crafted anonymity was being shattered. Already the first whispers were starting to spread around Fiore of the incredibly strong and mysterious member of Fairy Tail.

Soon these whispers would turn into rumors and then create fame for the young blonde with one prominent nickname already attached thanks to his attack.

One man had woken up from his forced slumber in time to hear Naruto whisper out the name of the konbijutsu. One man would hand him the moniker that Naruto would from then on be known. The fame of the feared 'Tempest' of Fairy Tail would spread.

He would become known far and wide as the man who could control storms and manipulate the heavens themselves. A man so skilled, he toppled a fortress by himself.

Eventually his fame would include Erza as well, before she broke off and formed her own reputation. Together they would become known far and wide as the most destructive when necessary but highly effective duo in Fairy Tail. The Storm Siblings were borne.

* * *

**A/N **Sorry for being away for so long but this chapter was a pain to write. I seriously rewrote the damn thing at least once a week every week since I posted the last chapter. I'm still not completely satisfied with it but its loads better than my many previous attempts. Please leave all questions, comments or suggestions on your way out. I did get caught up in writing my other story but I promise to have a prompt reply if you decide to review.

(1) Yes it's a book about Naruto's missions he went on in his past. The ones that aren't classified of course. It wouldn't be appropriate to have Naruto publish porn books for his sister to read. Of course he's changed names and certain details of the story as well.

(2) Link in my profile of Erza's outfit.

I would like to thank yukicrewger2 for allowing me the use of several jutsu that he created.


	9. Chapter 9

"normal speech"

'_thoughts or flashback'_

'**kurama speech'**

**Chapter 9**

_x780 December Tenrou Jima_

Crashes. Explosions. The sound of heavy footsteps in the air. Branches snapped and the earth trembled every few seconds.

Erza Scarlet was borderline panting to make it to the check point and complete the next stage of the S-Class promotional exams. Her closest rival was Mirajane and Erza was sure that she had been sidetracked by Gildarts.

Cana Alberona had already encountered Laxus on one of the rocky outcroppings on the island. Erza could still see the lightning magic at work even from this distance.

Naruto had refused to give her full details on this year's S-Class exam. He was one of the proctors of the exam so it would be unfair.

He had also refused to fully tell her what was in his own exam. Both of them. The one where Laxus passed and then the one a year later where he passed.

After each exam he had only told her how he either passed or failed and who he had to fight. Gildarts the first time and Makarov himself the second.

Of course his refusal might have been because of the fact that Erza constantly teased him. She always called Naruto by his nickname, 'Tempest', and tried to embarrass him by waving Sorcerer Magazine around. The magazine had run an article on him and declared him one of Fiore's most handsome and eligible wizards.

In the short year that Naruto had been made S-class he'd built up a fearsome reputation. He was both a heavy hitter when needed and could be discrete and quiet for other jobs.

There were times he was specifically requested to complete a job. That he always completed the job and with minimal fuss only served to further his reputation.

Erza often accompanied him on jobs so she saw everything firsthand. It also worked to give her extra ammo to use against him.

As of right now though she was in a dead sprint to make it to the checkpoint and pass on to the next stage of the S-Class promotional exam.

All four candidates taken to Tenrou Jima had been given a map of the island. They were told to find a specific item on the island but had to solve puzzles and overcome obstacles while doing so.

Those who crossed the checkpoint with their item would be allowed into the next stage. The puzzles given would, if solved correctly, also give them a trail and path to the checkpoint while avoiding any of the S-Class wizards stationed on the island to test them.

Erza was pretty confident she'd solved hers correctly but wanted to avoid being followed by that lazy and arrogant Mirajane. So Erza ran as fast as she could to avoid anyone following her.

The thicket of trees she was running through started to thin and showed a clearing ahead. Erza was beyond happy, she was sure that the checkpoint was directly ahead of her.

She sped up a bit, throwing caution to the wind and no longer moving as stealthily as before. _'Yes! If I can get to the next part I've got this exam in the bag. Then when I get promoted I can rub it in nii-san's face that I was promoted a whole 2 years younger than him!'_

With an uncharacteristic whoop of joy Erza jumped out of the forest and into the clearing.

As she straightened herself up and dusted herself off, she looked around for the checkpoint. It was supposed to be something that she could set off.

The only problem was that it too was part of the puzzles as part of their exam. So it would be hidden or disguised as something. Like a stump or rock, with its only identifying feature being it was inscribed with runes.

If she found it she was to run her magic through it briefly and that would signal her arrival. It would also signal her completion of this portion of the exam.

Erza started to walk around and lift up random rocks and overturn logs. She was so focused on her work that she completely overlooked the person in the clearing with her.

"Maybe you should try that rock to your left."

"No. It's too small I already checked it." Erza replied distractedly.

"Hmm. Well how about that log over on the right. It seems big enough. Kind of rotted and stuff too. Sounds like something Master Makarov would hide the signal under." Amusement clear in the person's voice now.

Even so, Erza was too focused on finding the checkpoint marker. "No. That's too obvious. It has to be a rock or else it would be too easy to find. Since there are so many rocks here."

Nodding sagely the second and older person suggested one other possibility after a few more minutes of searching turned up nothing. "Well maybe it isn't here?"

Erza grunted as she dropped a small boulder she'd been lifting. "It has to be. The checkpoint is supposed to be in a clearing full of rocks, by a small stream and surrounded by elm trees."

"Ah I see. Well… it's definitely not here then." A casual wave around. "These are oak trees and the elm portion of the forest is about 2 km that way." A hand pointed north.

An exasperated sigh left her lips. "There are way too many trees on this island for anyone to know the difference. Thanks nii-san!" She chirped before she started to walk away north.

Naruto chuckled and counted down in his head as she started walking. _'3… 2… 1… aaaand now she gets it.'_

"Nii-san!" Erza whirled sword already in hand. "How'd you get here?"

"On a boat. Same as you." Naruto answered in deadpan.

The red headed girl scowled. "I meant how did you get here in this clearing? Not how'd you get on the island."

"Well you should have just said so then Erza-chan." Naruto replied in a faux snobbish tone.

Naruto immediately jumped back to avoid a slash and had to duck afterwards to avoid a kick. "Whoa. Looks like you don't want to waste time playing around Erza-chan." He grinned as he blocked another kick.

She growled but bit her tongue and didn't answer him. She knew that he liked to mock and rile up his opponents during fights, so that he could exploit their weaknesses while distracted.

Naruto jumped on top of a stump to avoid a slash aimed at his torso. From the stump he immediately flipped backwards so that Erza's slash at his legs missed.

After a few minutes of running around and getting only a small cut on his haori Naruto took things up a notch. He grabbed a kunai from his pouch and held it in a reverse grip. At the next downwards slash from Erza he stopped the sword with his own blade.

Erza didn't have any time to react as he immediately grabbed her sword arm and twisted so that he could throw her over his shoulder. She avoided hitting the ground face first as she stuck her hand out and performed a one-handed handspring to get back to her feet.

Naruto quickly attacked her. "It's time to get serious Erza-chan. As the proctor for this exam I can't allow anyone that isn't strong enough or worthy of promotion get past me. You have to show that you have both the skills and the determination to be S-Rank if you want to pass."

Scarlet hair whirled around her face as Erza began an intricate dance to avoid Naruto's blows.

Making sure to play his role of exam proctor well, Naruto attacked in increasing levels of skill. His speed increased in trying to injure her as well as the strength behind each of his blows.

The blonde shinobi chased the armor wearing girl all around the clearing, trying to hit her. She was nimble though and managed to avoid most of his blows. It helped that he wasn't going all out though.

Tired of playing around, he closed the distance between them and feinted a slow low sweep of her feet.

Predictably she jumped over the incoming sweep, but Naruto had been counting on that and delivered a devastating combo of punches and elbows before she could move away.

As he was twisting because of the sweep, he used the momentum to deliver a heavy elbow to Erza's side. He followed up with two jabs to her torso and a roundhouse kick to send her flying.

Erza struggled to get up, more thankful than ever she wore armor all the time.

"I'm not like Gildarts Erza-chan. I won't just sit here and wait for you to come to me. You have to be able to fend for yourself as an S-class mage. How can you do that if I don't force you to defend?" Naruto asked even as he sprinted after her.

Over the course of the next few minutes, Naruto pushed Erza's limits as far as he could. He forced her to display all of her considerable skills in swordsmanship. He pushed her to show him how good she was in hand to hand fighting, and as the fight wore on she felt obligated to pull out what little jutsu and magic she had mastered.

"_Kanso: Panisshā no Yoroi (Requip: Punisher Armor)__" _(1) She cried out as she donned her newest set of armor. It was one of the few sets she had been able to master requipping in the middle of a fight.

From what Naruto knew, the _Panisshā no Yoroi_was an armor that gave Erza an increase in her offensive capabilities. Meaning she was both faster and stronger with it on.

"Crap. I'm going to have to step things up a bit." Naruto mumbled.

He locked blades with the much broader and heavier sword that accompanied the armor and thought up the best way to continue. He didn't want to go beyond the very basic jutsu when fighting her. This was _her _test after all and not his.

Already she had displayed quick thinking, a high level of strength and speed, as well as keen intellect if she was able to make it this far in the exam. She didn't have many jutsu available as Erza from almost the beginning told him that she was more of a melee or close range fighter.

The jutsu she did know were for when she had to attack from a distance or cause big damage. Plus she had recently decided to keep them as an ace in the hole so there was no need to use them all the time.

They would be beyond useless against Naruto anyways. She had a water affinity but like Naruto, needed water to be around to use it effectively.

Plus he was much better at ninjutsu than her so it really wouldn't be worth it.

The blonde teenager once more kicked Erza away from him to break their stalemate. They stood, eyeing each other up, silently debating whether to start the fight anew.

In the distance the flashes of light from Laxus' lightning had died down. Explosions and slight tremors that had been common earlier were no longer felt or heard. That meant that Gildarts was probably finishing up with whoever it was he tested.

A slight buzzing noise sounded out from Naruto's pocket. Sheepishly he waved a hand to ask for Erza to hold on a second. "Sorry sorry. Have to take this call. Hello. Who's this?"

From his pocket Naruto had pulled a small crystal orb, it was a communication lacrima.

Laxus' face showed up in the crystal, clearly irritated. "It's me idiot. Who else could it be? These things are the short range versions jiji gave the proctors so it could only be me or Gildarts."

Visibly cheering up Naruto waved at Laxus. "Hey sparky. What's up? You need something? I'm kind of busy at the moment."

A noticeable twitch developed over Laxus' eye. "Just calling to inform you that I didn't get Erza to test out like you wanted to know. I got Cana. She wasn't quite cut out for the exam though."

"Oh I see." Naruto ignored the questioning look Erza had at hearing that. "Well that means Gildarts has either Enno or Mirajane. I wonder what he's going to do."

As if in answer to his question the entire island of Tenrou Jima started to shake. It wasn't as violent as an earthquake but the sudden pressure and spike in magical energy was no less worrying.

Birds everywhere took to the skies. Animals that were minding their own business took off to hide in the forest. In the distance near the beaches of the island, a pillar of magical energy shot into the sky.

"Show off." Naruto snorted. He knew exactly what that was.

Gildarts had just released a whole lot of magical energy. Probably to scare whoever he was testing as it was extremely doubtful there would be any need to get serious with the examinees.

Erza looked to the source of the spike in magic and was visibly shocked at the turn of events. "No way. So much magic. Who could possibly be that strong?"

"Let's get back to business then Erza-chan. I know you don't have all day. But now that Gildarts has gotten serious and Laxus has finished up its pretty much expected for me to buckle down too." Naruto explained after he put away the lacrima into his pouch.

She nodded and lowered herself into a two handed stance gripping her sword. "You're right nii-san. I have to pass this exam. I'm not sure how much you're holding back but I'll make you regret it. I'll show you my strongest armor. Well my strongest completed armor…" she mumbled at the end.

Naruto tilted his head to the side in confusion. This was the first he'd heard of a new and strongest armor.

"_Kanso: Benihime (Requip: Crimson Princess)_. I've been working on getting stronger nii-san. I'll prove that I deserve this promotion._"_ (2) Gone was the all black and bulky armor of before. Replacing it was sleeker but no less protective flame red armor. Her broad sword that she'd been wielding was replaced too. Now she held a long sword wreathed in fire.

The element of this armor was obvious for Naruto. She had obviously at some point taken to practicing and mastering a fire based armor. Fire, the element that was superior in elemental advantage to his wind jutsu.

Erza was now more confident she'd be able to show how prepared she was to move up in rank.

He smiled and rose from his low defensive horse stance. "Looks like you're serious about passing then. Good. This isn't one of our spars. If you didn't come at me with everything you had and determined to win you wouldn't land a finger on me."

Erza tensed as he shook his head sadly though and closed his eyes. "Unfortunately it won't be enough Erza-chan. Not nearly enough."

A bright familiar glow started to emanate from Naruto. Slowly at first but then quickly he was engulfed in a bright yellow shroud of chakra. Black lines spread out from his shoulders down his arms, across his chest and down his legs.

His haori had turned yellow as well and had nagatama around the collar. His shirt and vest turned pure black and the seal on his stomach was evident over his clothes. A bright yellow spiral enclosed on all sides by more seal script.

On the back of his haori, the uzumaki spiral was displayed proudly. When Naruto opened his eyes again, they were no longer the brown and blue eyes of the last few years, but now were golden in color to match his cloak of power.

The armor clad girl gulped, visibly nervous at the prospect of fighting Naruto now.

Surely he wasn't going to go all out to fight her right? But even if all he did was dodge she knew she wasn't nearly fast enough to hit him. His speed was amazing while in his recently re-mastered Bijuu Cloak.

Naruto smiled grimly at Erza's shocked expression. "Sorry Erza-chan but I'm not quite done yet. Did you know Erza-chan that as a proctor of this exam I have full rights and can decide whether or not to pass someone? Whether or not to disqualify them based on my observations?"

In a daze, Erza shook her head no.

'**Are you sure about this Naruto? This could all blow up in your face brat. Can you live with yourself if that happens?'** Kurama asked his container. He already knew what Naruto was planning on doing.

Normally he wouldn't care but this plan of Naruto's had too many risks for his taste. Especially since he risked hurting Erza, the one person besides Naruto he could tolerate. Sort of.

'_I'm sure.'_ Really he wasn't but the pros outweighed the cons in this instance. If barely.

"Erza-chan as proctors we were told that it is up to us to determine when a participant can pass. But… since you're my wonderful imouto," a warm smile spread across his lips, "I have a higher responsibility to you. I have to make sure you are strong and that no harm comes to you."

Frowning slightly at his explanation, Erza waited patiently for him to get to the point. She doubted that he was giving this speech out only because he wanted to see how strong she was. That could easily be discovered by continuing their fight.

'**So it's time then huh brat? I want you to know that I do this under protest'**Kurama rumbled deep within the seal.

Naruto's form hadn't changed as he talked to Erza. His chakra cloak only grew a little darker, glowing a dark golden color instead of bright yellow.

His posture was still the same, but when he closed his eyes again… everything was different.

A colossal pressure descended on everything in the clearing. The rocks around them started to shake. The trees were groaning under the pressure, the air was stifling. Nothing was left untouched or unaffected by the invisible force pressing down.

Erza reeled back in shock. This was magic! It wasn't the normal chakra feel that she had grown to be familiar with whenever Naruto trained, no this was actual magic. Similar but yet very different to chakra.

How in the world could Naruto, who himself admitted not being a mage, use magic? And why was it so strong and potent that it was starting to scare her?

When he opened his eyes again, they remained golden in color but his pupils were no longer round. Instead they were slitted and his features grew feral. Lines like whiskers appeared on his cheeks.

'**I'm in control of your body now Naruto but I'll let you do the talking.'**Kurama explained. He had no wish to really test out his magical prowess, it was only recently that he had even been able to try out what he could accomplish with magic.

Naruto would never be able to use magic for himself anyways, this was all Kurama. The bijuu himself didn't really know where to start but was glad most of it seemed instinctual. The only downside seemed that his magic was only accessible and usable when Naruto used the Bijuu Cloak.

"For that reason and that reason alone, I cannot allow you to pass the S-Class exams." Naruto continued his monologue.

"Wh-what?" Erza choked out, dread seeping through her stomach like an acid pill. Her confidence from earlier starting to falter in the face of all the magic washing over her.

"Erza-chan. I'll say it one more time. I have a higher responsibility towards you. I have to make sure no harm comes to you. Ever if possible. Harm that S-Class missions would put you at risk for." As he talked the magic he was putting out rose higher and higher reaching phenomenal levels.

Erza was breathing hard now, the pressure and density of the magic around her making it difficult to take in air. She broke out in a cold sweat and didn't really register what Naruto was saying.

* * *

All around the island those who were able to sense even a modicum of magic looked in Naruto's direction. Everyone else just wondered what could possibly be up with Gildarts showing off again.

For his part Gildarts just smirked after having sent Mirajane off towards the recovery tent. She hadn't been quite able to meet the benchmark Gildarts set for her. _'So, this is your power Naruto. I can tell you can't fully control it. The magic is wild and erratic right now, but I can't wait to spar with you again. It should be fun.'_

Makarov who was tending to both Cana and Mirajane in the recovery tent just deflected the questions they were asking. "Tenrou Jima is a place sacred to Fairy Tail girls. Not even I know everything that happens here. Its possible Gildarts just feels like stretching his legs. Or if it's something else like Mirajane thinks then I can assure you nothing bad will happen to you."

Inwardly though he was a little worried. If Mirajane was here and Cana failed too that left only Naruto. _'You've been holding out on us Naruto. I'm sure you have your reasons. We all have our secrets. Just don't take it too hard on little Erza.'_

Laxus who was on his way back to the boat to return to Magnolia only smirked as he walked away. He didn't even look back to see what the commotion he felt was. _'Looks like it's you who ended up finding Erza Naruto. Don't know how or why you're magnifying your magic so much but this just means when we spar it'll be more interesting. I hope it's not fake power like from a lacrima or other magical item though. That'd be boring.'_

* * *

"You won't get past me Erza-chan. You won't pass this exam. The road to your promotion ends with me." Naruto continued monotonously.

By this point, tears were beginning to run down Erza's cheeks. All her hopes, all her dreams, to prove herself strong, to prove that she didn't need Naruto to always hold her hand, were in danger of being shattered.

She had hoped to pass this exam and prove she had grown stronger, prove that not only did Naruto raise her well but now he no longer needed to protect her as much. That perhaps, she could protect him if he needed it.

"Give up now Erza-chan. Give up so that I can keep you safe from harm by failing you." He requested. "You aren't cut out for this exam. Not as you are." The silent, _'perhaps not ever'_, went unsaid.

'**You're playing a dangerous game brat.' **Kurama warned.

'_It has to be this way. I have to be certain she'll be safe.' _Naruto replied.

Once more a wave of power surged out from Naruto. It washed over everything in the area but focused on Erza.

The sword edged in flames fell from her limp hands. She dropped to her knees and looked at Naruto despairingly. Hoping beyond hope that she misunderstood him. "I'll pass. I have to pass nii-san. Even if you don't want me too I'll just pass next year. I don't care. You can't keep me from passing." She whispered fervently.

Naruto sighed sadly. "That's where you're wrong Erza-chan. Even if you take the test every year from now until I have gray hair, I will make sure to face you each and every time. And fail you each and every time."

Erza who had been silently letting her tears fall to the ground, her hands gripping the earth and holding herself up, snapped her head up at that. "I don't care. I will pass. I don't care what you say nii-san! I'm going to pass this exam."

Scarlet hair whirled around her as Erza called her own magic forth. While not at the same level as any of the current S-class wizards, it was still impressive. "I'll show you I'm cut out for this. I'll show you that you can't intimidate me into backing down. I'm strong. Even if I'm not strong enough right now, all I'll do is train and grow stronger. Until I can beat you and show you that I can protect you just as much as you can protect me."

Her body glowed a bright white before her armor disappeared and was replaced. "I don't have a name for this armor yet, it's not completed. But I'll show you how strong I am. You said I can't even put a scratch on you. Well I'll prove that I can do that and more."

Gone was the predominantly red armor from before. Her new armor, her apparently unfinished armor, was mainly blues and whites. Some red trim existed on the gauntlets and yellow around the cuffs, but it was nevertheless an impressive looking armor.

Naruto smirked as the ground beneath him cracked and splintered as he once more raised the output of magic around him. He had to be absolutely sure she could stand up to him.

She got to her feet and glared defiantly at him.

"Aah! I won't let you keep me down Naruto-aniki! I'll show you exactly what I'm made of. I don't care how many times I do this, I will beat you!" In her hand an electrified spear appeared.

The older boy's eyes widened in surprise as he sensed both magic and chakra being used. Normally this would be cause for alarm because of what that meant for Erza, but since they were in the middle of the promotional exams he let it go.

She had tried using both magic and chakra at the same time once before. The results were surprising.

Just like Naruto knew that Kurama's chakra was thrown out of control because of the eternano in the air, he guessed that something similar would happen to Erza.

He was right. If she tried using both magic and chakra, it wreaked havoc with her control. Not so much her chakra control but her control over her magic.

Somehow and for some reason it acted like an accelerant. It forced her to output as much magic as possible all at once as soon if she used the barest of chakra.

Like a flame following a trail of gas, if she used chakra while using magic she opened the floodgates to her magic reserves and poured out too much. It resulted in her fainting from exhaustion. It wasn't lethal though, which is the only thing Naruto cared about, as he repeatedly asked Porlyusica when she treated Erza.

The attack she'd been prepping when she started using both sources of energy though was incredible. While it had actually flickered out and dissolved since she passed out, the power it contained was astonishing. So while using both chakra and magic obviously had its large drawbacks, its advantages were extremely high as well.

It made any of her previous attacks pale in comparison. That's just how powerful it was.

She was far from mastering it though. Naruto didn't know if she really could master it, since she was the first person able to use both. That didn't mean she wouldn't try, but she was a long ways off.

With a wild dash and something that looked a lot like _Shunshin_ yet different, Erza charged straight at him. Naruto met her head on, determined to see how this would unfold.

A deafening boom exploded from their clearing. A cloud of dust erupted into the air from their clash and a crater was formed.

Most noticeable though was the absence of magic from earlier. The absence of that absolute colossal source of power that had everything in the area scared.

Erza didn't realize she had fallen unconscious after her charge. She didn't know that she had exhausted herself and fainted from all the magic she released.

Her only thoughts at the moment had been to prove beyond a doubt that no matter what she faced, she would keep trying to get stronger and beat Naruto. To show that even if she wasn't strong enough at the moment and Naruto had vowed to fail her, she would just keep coming back over and over again.

So when she woke up and noticed she was moving along through the forest she didn't quite understand what was happening. It was only when she noticed that she was being carried that she remembered and realized what must have happened.

She was so focused on landing at least one hit on Naruto and then training for the next year to do it all over again at the next exams that she blocked everything else out. Normally she would have stopped or tried to do something to keep from passing out but it just didn't happen.

Slowly she blinked in order to get her eyes to focus. "What's going on?"

"Quiet down Erza-chan. Go ahead and get some rest. You've certainly earned it." Naruto answered, even as he kept on walking forward. He didn't even bother to turn his head and look at the girl he was carrying piggy-back to the other side of the island where the rest tent was.

She yawned and nodded her head tiredly. "Ok. I'll get you next time nii-san. Just wait and see." She mumbled, almost missing but too tired to do anything about what she heard next.

"There's no need Erza-chan. You passed. I'm proud of you. You're the newest S-Rank mage of Fairy Tail." He told her.

A small happy smile appeared on her face for the briefest of moments before she once more fell asleep. There would be plenty of time to celebrate later. For now she just enjoyed the fact that she could rest again.

'**Looks like things worked out for you brat. Lucky bastard. It was a risk playing with her head like that. I thought you said you didn't like it when it happened to you at your own exams back in Konoha?" **Kurama growled out.

'_I didn't. But that doesn't mean it wasn't necessary and effective. Those chuunin exams really sucked but they taught me a valuable lesson. Sometimes you need more than just brute strength or skill to measure you worth. Your mental fortitude is just as important.'_ The blonde jinchuuriki answered his grouchy tenant.

As he walked forward, moving closer to the tent where the rest of the guild was, he looked over his shoulder to the red haired girl on his back. He smiled proudly at how far she'd come.

His plan had been risky, but he still felt that the end results were justified. She had proven how strong she was, how determined she had grown. It was good that his fears hadn't come to fruition and he was fully prepared to apologize for messing with her head when she woke.

For now though, he'd just let her rest and recover after such a tiring day.

* * *

Erza once again woke up slowly and had to blink rapidly to focus her vision. The last words she remembered from Naruto played in her head. She smiled as she sat up and looked around.

"Finally up sleepy head?" The tent flap was open to allow Naruto and a couple of his clones entry as he walked in.

"Nii-san! Did you mean it? Did I really pass?" Erza rushed to ask him.

Naruto smiled and pointed at the sleeve of his haori, showing her the small tear in the fabric. "Well you didn't pass out from seeing how awesome I am that's for sure. I didn't know you've been training so hard lately and I gotta say, I'm impressed. Even if you only barely managed to scratch me, but to answer your question, yes. You did pass."

Whoops of joy were heard by all those outside the tent and no one was quite sure who it came from. Most didn't believe Erza capable of being so excited and others hoped Naruto wasn't still that childish.

Naruto took a seat next her bedroll and grinned. "You surpassed all my expectations Erza-chan. I'm sorry for saying all those things earlier but they were only to test you and you did great. Everyone one of the proctors had something different they wanted to test. Laxus tested strength, Gildarts maturity and decision making, and me I wanted to see your mental fortitude."

Erza beamed with pride and wrapped him in a tight hug. "I'm glad you got to see how strong I am nii-san. Even if you had to be sneaky about it."

Naruto shrugged. "I think that since you've proved how strong you are its time I answer your question. Now I don't have to worry about anyone possibly finding out the truth about me and going after you."

Erza paid rapt attention to Naruto, knowing exactly what he was talking about. From almost the very beginning of their relationship, Naruto had let her ask him one question a day that he promised to never lie about, in order to trust and get to know each other.

At first she had kept her questions to his skills and missions as a shinobi. Eventually they had moved on to his past and accomplishments. Finally she had asked the one question that she both wanted most to know and dreaded the answer.

She asked him of his family, his parents, siblings and name. At the time he'd only looked at her with a melancholy expression and asked her to hold off on the question for now.

Erza was at first worried that he had a real family to go back to. People that missed him and that he would leave her for. A sister, brother or parents that he would eventually seek out and leave Erza behind. Eventually he explained that it wasn't the case. He explained he was an orphan too but couldn't let her know his last name in case something bad happened.

Naruto hated to do it, he knew how sensitive Erza was about family since her own parents had abandoned her in her village before the slavers captured everyone, but felt it necessary at the time. He'd spent years searching high and low for any news on Sasuke when Kurama had asked him a question so obvious he couldn't believe he missed it.

If he was so sure that Sasuke had gone with him and both left the elemental nations, then why was he sure that the ROOT agent that they had fought hadn't come too? Especially since Kurama didn't know how they got to Fiore in the first place and perhaps the curse seal the ROOT shinobi had used was a trigger that flung them to the Tower of Heaven.

So to protect Erza he'd been forced to hide and keep his clan name a secret from her.

At least until she was ready and strong enough to defend herself in case anyone found out she knew and was, on paper, related to Naruto Uzumaki. It didn't help that she looked so much like his mother Kushina either.

That would only make it worse for her since she could pass for an Uzumaki well.

"Before I get into all the details though, what was that last armor you used? It sure packs a punch let me tell you." Naruto's grin grew even wider.

It was no exaggeration. If it hadn't been for his Bijuu Cloak, that armor would definitely have hurt him. It was deceptively strong, but obviously drained her far quicker than was good at the moment.

She pulled back from the hug she had given him and coughed into her hand, looking away and blushing in embarrassment. "It's my newest armor I've had custom made. It uh, well it's kind of embarrassing but I can't even use it for too long without getting tired."

Eyes scrunched and his head tilted to the side in confusion Naruto waited for her to say more. When it became clear she wouldn't he instead shrugged it off to talk about some other time. "Anyways, you already know my reasons for keeping my clan name secret."

Erza nodded.

"There's no point in babying you anymore then Erza-chan." He took a deep breath and let it out, "I was born in the village of Konohagakure no Sato in Hi no Kuni to the Yondaime Hokage and the Nidaime Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko."

At a wave of his hand his two clones stepped forward and formed the Dog, Boar and Ram hand seals. A puff of smoke later and it cleared to reveal two very distinct and precious people to Naruto, despite the extremely small amount of time he spent with them.

One was a blonde man wearing a haori similar to Naruto's but with a flame like motif at the bottom. The other was a beautiful, crimson haired woman, slightly shorter than the man but with a wide grin and mischievous look.

Erza stared wide eyed at the two people standing on either side of Naruto.

He had never shown her a picture of them before but she easily recognized his mother and father. There had never been a reason to see them before really; Erza was an orphan too and just assumed he found it painful to talk about his parents just as much as she did.

"I know it might not mean much Erza-chan," he continued a little sadly as it was a sensitive subject, "but if my parents were here, they'd be just as proud of you as I am. I know that for a fact. They would love you and would be glad that I found a wonderful imouto to look after and keep me in line too."

Tears once more built up in her eyes and Erza quickly blinked to try and clear them away. She hadn't been this emotional in a very long time but she found that she didn't really care and wasn't as ashamed of crying as she should have been.

"I know that you'll never get to know them but I present to you my father Minato Namikaze," The clone of Minato smiled warmly at Erza, "and my mother, who I swear you really could be a miniature version of, Kushina Uzumaki." The older scarlet haired woman waved cheerfully at Erza's shocked expression.

Erza looked longingly at the two clones that represented Naruto's parents and threw herself into his arms. She hugged him for dear life and kept mumbling into his chest over and over, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Naruto rubbed small circles into her back until she calmed down. When she pulled away he smiled softly at her and kissed her forehead. "It's not much Erza-chan, I know that I can't ever replace or be a substitute for your real family," she scowled at remembering her real parents, "but I want you to know that I was very serious when I said I'd be your aniki from now on. You're my wonderful imouto, my precious, beautiful and strong little sister, and even though I grew up as Naruto Uzumaki, I never once will regret taking up the role of Naruto Scarlet to be closer to you."

A choked sob and eyes full of happiness was the only response he got. All he cared for really.

Some more heartfelt moments later and after the emotional rollercoaster had ended Naruto broached the last topic he wanted to talk to Erza about. She watched curiously as he pulled out a containment scroll and unsealed its contents.

In his hands he held a long thin box. He handed it over to her and watched as she opened it up, eyes full of curiosity. "What's this nii-san? Why did you just give me the hilt to a sword?"

The excitable blonde's megawatt grin could have lit up the darkest of nights. "Oh but Erza-chan how you underestimate me so. That isn't just any sword. And yes I did in fact say sword not just hilt. Run a little chakra through it. Or magic. Go on."

A bit wary of the confirmed sword in her hands, Erza nevertheless did as she was told. When she poured a small amount of chakra into the hilt she gasped as lightning crackled and a blade made entirely of electricity burst into existence.

She'd heard from Naruto about this legendary blade but she never imagined he would show it to her. "Nii-san! Is this the _Raijin no Ken (Sword of the Thunder God)_?" (3)

"Yep!" He chirped cheerfully, "And it's yours now. Think of it as a congratulations present for passing the exam. Ah, they grow up so fast." He teased as he wiped a fake tear away from his eye.

Not quite over the shock of seeing the legendary blade of the famed Nidaime Hokage in her hands, the young and fearsome mage only nodded numbly in thanks.

Naruto had regaled her with stories of the man's prowess in battle and she was awed at holding a blade wielded and created by such a powerful warrior. Soon awe was replaced with excitement and happiness at having such a powerful weapon. _'This will help me out a lot with my new armor too. Since nii-san said the blade's made from real lightning and barely uses any chakra at all.'_

"Ok Erza-chan lets wrap things up here we have to get a move on." Naruto said as he started to tidy up the tent.

"What's the rush?" Erza protested. "Aren't the exams over and we can go back anytime to the guild?"

"Yeah yeah, but if we hurry we can make it back to Hargeon Town before the last train leaves for Era." He explained impatiently.

Erza frowned. "Why would we go to Era?"

Naruto looked at her in disbelief. "To register you as the newest S-Class mage of Fairy Tail of course." Erza blushed a bit in embarrassment at forgetting that tidbit, "And because Ultear-chan said that our meal was interrupted too soon last time she stopped in Magnolia and there needed to be a make-up date for it." Ah, well now his impatience made sense to the ruby haired teen.

"So… you can't wait to go see Ultear-san can you? Is there something I should know about?" She questioned teasingly.

Naruto laughed. "No. I just want to get you registered already and she said she wanted to hang out with us with less people around."

That didn't sound like Ultear. While she obviously liked Naruto and was interested in Erza, she never complained about the company they kept whenever she visited the guild. "What were her exact words nii-san?"

Naruto tapped a finger on his chin in thought. "Well… she did say she liked spending time together but that next time it might be better if we had more privacy. Since Natsu, Happy and Cana won't be around this time to eat up all our food I bet I can get her to finally go to that ramen place I found in Era."

Erza sweatdropped at his continued obliviousness to her intentions. Seriously, was he really that dense? Or did he just purposely ignore her and have selective hearing whenever food came up. "I-I don't think that's quite what she meant nii-san. Maybe I shouldn't come with you when you go out to dinner." She tried interrupting.

"Nonsense Erza-chan." Naruto waved his hand dismissively, "Of course that's what she meant. She likes you just as much as me."

Any and all protests made to the contrary were promptly ignored. Hours later and after informing Makarov of their intentions, the Scarlet siblings were off to Era to see Ultear.

* * *

_Magic Council Headquarters_

"Now where could she be hiding at this time?" Naruto asked himself as he walked around the council building.

Everyone that was around just ignored the blonde as he'd become something of a regular at the headquarters. If he wasn't popping in and out on errands for Makarov or some sort of S-Class job, then he was visiting the aide to one of the members of the council, Ultear Milkovich.

Naruto had tried looking for Ultear at her usual haunts in the building to find her. She wasn't in the cafeteria, which was good for him as he'd been planning on taking them all out to eat, she wasn't in the archives, and she wasn't in Belno's office.

He'd sent off Erza to register her new rank at the Request Distribution Office and update her profile in the Guild files the Council kept. They promised to meet up in the main doors of the building after they were finished with their things.

The creak of a door opening and a familiar voice caught his ear. He twisted his head slightly and looked over his shoulder in the direction of the noise.

"…now if you follow me I'll show you where these next files go. It's really just a lot of-" Ultear was saying to someone in the room she was walking out of.

"Ultear-chan!" Naruto waved to catch her attention.

Ultear turned to see who could possibly be calling for her while at work. When she caught sight of the blonde locks of hair and familiar set of brown and blue eyes her expression shifted from annoyed to slightly happy.

"Naruto. How good to see you. What are you doing here?" She inquired politely but with an undertone of happiness.

"Oh well I just came by to ask you to dinner with me and…" his words trailed off as he caught sight of who Ultear had been talking to.

Naruto used his years of hiding behind a mask of cheerfulness to keep the shock, anger and disbelief from showing on his face at the person behind Ultear. He did a good job of keeping his expression neutral and only a flicker of emotion registered in his eyes before that too was hidden away.

Ultear only just caught the glint of recognition from him before she turned to introduce the person behind her to Naruto. _'This should be interesting.'_ "Naruto, I'd like you to meet the newest intern here at the Council of Magic Headquarters. He's quite the up and coming mage himself and hopes to one day join the council but he has to start somewhere right?"

Naruto nodded with only a hint of reluctance.

"Naruto meet Siegrain. Siegrain Fernandes."

* * *

A/N Is it bad that I read and reread my own stories as much as I do others? I don't know if that's weird or could be considered arrogant that I like to read my own work.

This chapter was meant to show how seriously Naruto takes protecting Erza as well as showing how careful Naruto is with the information on his own background. I hope you guys liked it and there are only a few more things I must sort out before jumping into canon events, like Lisanna, maybe Mystogan, Ultear and Hades etc.

Anyways, please leave all reviews, questions and comments on your way out. As always I appreciate them and will respond accordingly.

(1) It's an original armor but won't make an appearance again. This was meant more to be like the training wheels for Erza's requip magic. The weaker armors she no doubt replaced as she grew older. Like how, say track stars, train in sneakers but race in track spikes.

(2) Once more, this armor won't show up after this chapter. It's just the prelude or training wheels necessary to master before Erza eventually started wearing her Flame Empress Armor.

(3) Naruto and Sasuke recovered the sword during their time in ANBU. Naruto offered it back to Tsunade as it is a Senju heirloom but she said it was a weapon not a piece of art and should be used in battle not hanging in her office on display like it would end up doing if she kept it.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N Talking to Siegrain/Jellal will be confusing in this chapter. Just know that Naruto is suspicious of Siegrain but won't refer to him as Jellal even in his mind until he's positive they're the same person.

"normal speech"

'_thoughts or flashback'_

'**kurama speech'**

**Chapter 10**

_x 780 Magic Council Headquarters_

"Naruto meet Siegrain. Siegrain Fernandes."

Anger flared within, but Naruto suppressed all visible signs as he nodded at the blue haired boy. He had to handle this delicately. He couldn't just attack Jellal or Siegrain whatever he called himself in the center of the Magic Council.

To him it was obvious that Jellal was using a fake name, but the question was why? What could he hope to achieve by walking around with only his name changed.

While the destruction of the Tower of Heaven wasn't as well known as he thought, Naruto still assumed that news of it had gotten out. There had been hundreds of slaves to escape the island after all.

It would be difficult, but the young shinobi would now need to use his considerable experience to get some answers. He wasn't trained as an interrogator, leaving that area to Sasuke, but he was sure he could get something out of the blue haired boy.

Naruto would have to tread carefully to make Jellal slip up and reveal why he was walking around like nothing was wrong. The blonde would have to watch his words to get answers without tipping his hand. "Siegrain? I thought your name was Jellal last time we met?" Then again, Naruto never was a fun of subtle when the direct approach was easier.

Ultear smirked faintly. _'He sure doesn't beat around the bush.'_

She knew that Naruto would recognize Jellal.

The blonde hadn't been the most forthcoming with his past but Jellal had told her who it was that freed the slaves all those years ago. Jellal viewed the blonde with contempt but at least recognized that he was strong.

The tattooed mage didn't complain often but he cursed Naruto for delaying the construction of the Tower by several years.

She didn't think they'd meet so soon but she would try and spin it in her favor anyways. No matter what happened, there had to be a way to gain favor from one or both of them. It would be a balancing act trying to keep her cover intact and hidden from the two but she could do it.

Neither could find out that she was the one controlling Jellal not the other way around. Naruto especially couldn't find out her role in regards to the blue haired wizard.

If he found out then all influence on him she'd managed to cultivate and gain over the last few years would be lost. He would not trust her as easily and all the time and effort she put into using him for her own means would be wasted.

It was an unacceptable loss for Ultear. Yet she was confident she could keep her role hidden. She had to.

A cold smile graced Seigrain's features. "I'm afraid you are mistaken Naruto-san. Jellal is or rather _was _my twin brother. Did you know him?"

Naruto frowned slightly in confusion. _'Twin huh? Didn't think those were real. Course I've only ever met one pair of twins so that might be why. Explains a lot though.'_

He wanted to confirm something though, just to make sure. It was a little too convenient for Jellal to have a twin brother that no one knew about, not even Erza. "What do you mean was? Last I saw he was fine. Sure it was at the Tower of Heaven but everyone else got out ok."

'_The hook has been set.' _Naruto thought.

No matter his answer there would have to be some sort of unintentional slip of information.

If Siegrain answered that Jellal died, then Naruto would ask how he knew that.

No one but Naruto and Kurama could possibly confirm that Jellal had actually died. As far as anyone knew, even those escaped slaves, Naruto had left Jellal alive when they left the Tower.

No one should know that he'd gone back later on and destroyed the place.

However, if Siegrain announced that Jellal was alive then Naruto would only be further suspicious that Siegrain really was Jellal. He'd need to find out what excuse or story Siegrain would give for Jellal still being alive.

"Yes I spoke to a few of the survivors but they gave me some bad news." Siegrain smiled thinly, "I looked for him for many years, searched high and low for any information on my brother. I was lucky that I'm his twin so I could ask others if they'd seen him."

Ultear listened intently to the confrontation between the two. She was curious to find out what excuse Siegrain would come up with. If he was already being suspected of being alive before he entered the Magic Council then he needed an iron clad story to back up why he was a different person and not one who was supposedly dead.

"Sadly I was told that he died in one of the raids on the R-System instigated by the Magic Council years ago." Siegrain lied smoothly, omitting the fact that said raids while real had actually occurred years before the Tower of Heaven break outs.

"What raids?" Naruto asked curiously.

"The Magic Council heard of a dangerous forbidden magic several years ago. It was named the R-System and comprised of seven towers meant to resurrect the dead. When they heard this they immediately took action and set out to destroy such forbidden magics." Siegrain explained patiently.

Ultear despite herself was a little impressed.

He hadn't lied about the council going out and destroying the seven towers of the R-system. He'd just neglected to mention that the Tower of Heaven was not one of those seven towers. Those seven towers had been destroyed before the current Tower of Heaven had been discovered.

The cult responsible for the Tower of Heaven had taken care to keep the last and eighth R-System a secret. It was the only tower to survive the destruction instigated by the Magic Council.

'_I'll have to check to see if that's true.'_ Naruto thought to himself.

While he knew who really destroyed the Tower of Heaven, he couldn't let them know that. It would also be easy to verify Siegrain's story. The Magic Council would surely keep records of destroying such forbidden and dangerous magic like the R-System so it would be dumb for Siegrain to lie about that.

Of course that meant breaking and entering into secret files of the Council. Not that he had any qualms with doing that actually.

"A black mark on the history of the Magic Councils decisions, those raids." Ultear interjected smoothly. "Many lives were lost, most from the ones responsible for building the R-system, but the risk was too great to let them remain active."

The blonde shinobi looked to his friend as she spoke. The fact that she knew about said raids lent credence to the story. It must have happened after he rescued Erza though, but it was a good thing that the other towers he didn't know of got destroyed too.

"I'm sorry for bringing that up then Siegrain. I had no idea that Jellal had died." Naruto wasn't totally convinced yet but he couldn't press the issue at the moment. Discretion is the better part of valor after all.

Siegrain waved away the apology. "No need for that Naruto-san. While it is unfortunate my brother was a victim, there's nothing I can do about that now. I just hope to get into the Magic Council in the future and prevent something like that happening again."

"A noble goal." Naruto replied distractedly, still trying to think of any way possible to dispel his suspicions.

"If I may ask though Naruto-san?" At a nod from the blonde Siegrain continued. "Just what kind of history did you have with Jellal that you immediately took notice of me?"

A slight stiffening of his shoulders was the only indication Naruto was caught off guard. Only the ever observant Ultear caught it.

Siegrain looked faintly curious and expectant of the answer but held an air of smug satisfaction. Naruto had probed too closely to his origins. It was only fair to put him on the spot.

He had to be careful with his words. Naruto hadn't expected for Siegrain to turn the tables on him like this. "I met him. He is or was now I guess, a close friend of my sister Erza."

Siegrain's eyes widened in surprise. "Erza? She's your sister?" His voice was deceptively smooth, shock firmly etched in the timber.

Yet Naruto didn't like the tone. He couldn't quite place it but it carried undertones of deception. Like it was well practiced, forced and not genuine.

Ultear frowned slightly. Despite being ordered by Hades to help Siegrain as much as possible and yet keep her cover intact as a mere lackey to the crazed mage, she refused to do so if he acted stupidly so early in their plans.

She knew Siegrain wanted to meet Erza again. Whether it was to try and mock her or try and control her in some way wasn't clear. It seemed that the _Shoji Maho (Possession Magic)_ she'd used on him caused a slight obsession with her.

She shrugged off any worries about it.

If she'd learned anything over the years it's that Naruto wouldn't allow anything to happen to Erza. He was extremely protective of her.

Even so, if Siegrain kept poking the sleeping dragon that was Naruto, years of planning would be ruined all for the sake of Siegrain's pride. All for trying to mock a single girl.

So since she noticed the hint of anger in Naruto's face she decided to step in. It was clear that Naruto was no less fooled by Siegrain's proclamation than she was.

"Did you need something from me Naruto? Or do you make it a habit to walk around and yell my name randomly just for kicks?" Ultear asked coyly.

Naruto snapped out of the brief one sided glaring contest he'd gotten into with Siegrain. "Huh? Oh yeah. Ultear-chan! Erza made S-class today. You want to go out to dinner with us and celebrate?"

Ultear would have said yes no matter the reason to go out to dinner with Naruto. The puppy dog eyes he sported and hopeful grin would have made it impossible to say no even if she had anything planned. "Very well. Let me show Siegrain here where to put these files and from there we can go out to dinner. I'll meet you at the front desk alright?"

"I heard from several people that Erza was a close friend of my brother. Do you think I could talk to her and find out about him sometime?" Siegrain inquired before Ultear could lead him away. He was grasping at straws but still insisted on possibly meeting Erza.

Tired of playing this game and annoyed that Siegrain wanted to pester Erza, Naruto played the only card left that was both believable and would make Siegrain back off. "Oi that better not be a dumb excuse just to meet my sister. She's not old enough to date yet."

"Oh. So there _is_ an age for her to date is there?" Ultear asked innocently, knowing how Naruto would react.

He of course spluttered indignantly before recomposing himself. "Wha- yes! No! I mean, maybe? You stay away from my little sister pervert!" Naruto pointed at Siegrain angrily.

Ultear giggled lightly, the heavy atmosphere from before broken. Naruto truly was talented at diffusing tense situations, even if it was by Ultear's choice this time.

It was highly amusing for her to see Naruto act this way. She did wonder where the pervert comment came from though. Siegrain was about the same age as Erza so that didn't make much sense.

"Is that a threat Naruto-san?" Siegrain said politely, but with a sharp glint in his eye.

"Of course not." Naruto responded with fake cheerfulness, "I warn off all boys that want to approach my sweet, naïve, and easily impressionable imouto. She's much too innocent to hang out with any boys, and if they push too hard the one who pushes back might be me instead." He finished in a light tone, a tight grin on his face.

Even though he was passing it off as a joke, the underlying threat was clear. Mess with Erza and you'll have to deal with Naruto.

Just because he was playing up the older, protective brother role didn't make the threat any less real. Especially not with the cold, serious look in his eye as he said it.

A faint scowl appeared on Siegrain's features at losing an opportunity to needle Erza. "I'll keep that in mind then."

Naruto only stared at him emotionlessly before he gave a brisk nod. He smiled at Ultear and then turned to leave, waving a hand over his shoulder.

Ultear walked away in order to show Siegrain where to go next with the files they had.

She was careful not to let her amusement show at watching Naruto threaten a member of the Magical Government. While it was true that they were both rather low in the pecking order, not many would threaten anyone that worked in any level of the Magic Council.

Even so, she felt that Siegrain behaved a little too recklessly in his confrontation with Naruto. "It would be wise not to aggravate Naruto again _Jellal_." Ultear cautioned, "He has quite a reputation as an S-Class mage already and I can assure you, he is just as smart as he is powerful. If you're not careful he could find out about the Tower of Heaven and how it wasn't destroyed by the Magic Council. There's no need to unnecessarily provoke him if antagonizing Erza is your only goal."

Siegrain scowled but knew it to be true. "Well then, I'm glad you are around to distract him. You did a great job in making sure he didn't look too far into the raids by the Council. I admit I was a little too enthusiastic while meeting him, but I'll be more careful around him from now on."

'_Fool. If by a little you mean you nearly had him ready to revisit the Tower then yes, you were only a little enthusiastic. I'll have to talk to Master Hades about my role concerning you Jellal. I refuse to play the simpering lackey if you constantly put our plans to awaken Zeref in danger.'_

* * *

Once clear of their line of sight Naruto stopped for a moment. A puff of smoke later and a seal-less _Kage Bunshin_ popped up next to him. "You know what to do. Once you get the information keep an eye on this Siegrain guy and if anything important happens dispel immediately."

"Oh come on boss you serious?" The clone whined. "You know how hard it's gonna be to sneak into the Council's record office and find the information for the seven towers? That's if it's not classified too. Which will take even longer to find if it is."

A tic mark developed over Naruto's eye. "Shut up and do it or I'll just dispel you and make another one!"

"Fine fine." The clone grumbled as it hopped to the ceiling and took off. "Lazy ass slave driver."

"Now to go try and embarrass Erza-chan." Naruto rubbed his hands together and resisted the urge to cackle.

Playing overprotective brother was fun sometimes but playing the embarrassing older brother was much more hilarious.

* * *

A full course dinner later and after they finished Erza's story about her promotion Ultear was once more reevaluating the blonde in front of her. They had enjoyed a rather quiet and nice dinner up to that point. Their only topics of conversation so far had been Ultear's job, and what each one of them had been up to since last they met.

Eventually conversation shifted to the S-Class promotional exams. The secrets of Tenrou Jima and what it was like weren't discussed. Ultear didn't press for details as the island was sacred to those of Fairy Tail.

When they got to the fight between Naruto and Erza though, that's when her interest was piqued. The raven haired beauty knew that neither Erza nor Naruto exaggerated the events on the island.

If anything they downplayed their own strengths.

'_I was right in keeping an eye on you Naruto. The power you seem to have at your disposal… it's extraordinary. I'll have to think of a way for you to help me further my goal if overpowering you isn't an option.'_ Ultear grinned into her glass as already thoughts of how Naruto could help her flitted through her mind.

"Well it seems congratulations are in order Erza. I'm sure I won't be the only one keeping an eye on you from here on out. Especially since you made S-Class a full two years younger than your brother." Ultear teased as she looked at Naruto.

Erza smiled too and joined in on the fun. "On my first try too."

"I was up against Gildarts!" Naruto protested. The girls only looked at him with pitying expressions. He folded his arms over his chest and frowned petulantly. "I'm still awesome though."

Both Erza and Ultear laughed at his sulking figure.

"Hey nii-san, since you dragged me all the way here to brag to Ultear-san about _my _promotion, can I go pick my dessert out now?" Erza said as she gave the both of them a pointed look.

By now Erza's fondness of strawberry cake bordered on obsession only rivaled by Naruto's love of ramen. Ultear knew this and often used it as a method of distraction between the two. Except in this instance she knew that Erza was trying to give them some time alone.

'_When we awaken Zeref and reach the Ultimate World of Magic, I'll be sure to remember to do something nice for this girl.'_ Ultear decided. _'She seems to approve of my getting closer to Naruto. Maybe I can work that angle?'_

"Fine." Naruto waved her away. "Just don't throw a tantrum if they won't let you eat the entire cake."

The restaurant they picked to dine at was famous for having their desserts freshly made on the spot with the help of magic. All one had to do was order and customize their dessert at the counter and it would be made for them while they waited in a few short minutes.

Erza stuck her tongue out at him and rushed away. Before she did she tilted her head at Ultear and then looked at Naruto pointedly.

A sly smile appeared on the raven haired beauty's face and she nodded to show she understood.

"So tell me Naruto. What was your real reason in coming straight to me about Erza's promotion?" Ultear asked curiously as she sipped on her drink.

Naruto shrugged. "Friends tell other friends good news to celebrate right? No big secret or reason really." She certainly didn't need to know he liked spending time with her. It would only encourage her flirting.

Not that she needed the encouragement. Ultear leaned forward and laid a hand over his arm on the table. "I'm glad you consider me a friend Naruto. Despite how polite and friendly you project yourself to be, we both know that you're a rather private person."

Naruto didn't let his surprise show. Essentially she was right. He didn't really consider many people in Earthland his friends. For Ultear to pick up on it though, especially since he was never unfriendly or outright disrespectful to people, it showed how observant she was.

"We've been friends forever though Ultear-chan, ever since we first met." Naruto grinned, remembering their first encounter. Even Ultear was amused at the memory by now.

"Yes, but if you tell me you decided to be friends with me since then I won't believe you." Ultear retorted dryly.

Amused laughter filled the air, but Naruto ended it to change the topic of their talk. "Ultear-chan, maybe it doesn't mean much to you but… I don't like that Siegrain guy." At the slight arch of her brow Naruto elaborated, "I know I don't have much of a reason but he just doesn't seem trustworthy. Be careful around him Ultear-chan. I'd hate to be thrown in jail for kicking his ass if he hurt you."

A gentle smile to ease his worries crossed Ultear's ruby lips. "I appreciate the concern Naruto. I will be wary of him." _'Although, Jellal should be the one wary of me if he keeps acting so recklessly all for the sake of a girl. Speaking of which…' _"I noticed you got pretty defensive over his mentioning Erza. If it helps you any, I'll try and keep him from pestering her in the future as well."

Naruto beamed and nodded gratefully.

Sometimes it paid to have friends in high places. He knew sooner or later Erza would encounter Siegrain when he wasn't around. It'd be good to have Ultear there to keep an eye on her too.

In order to lessen the damage between their inevitable meetings, Naruto knew he'd have to tell her of Siegrain soon. So she wasn't caught by surprise.

Of course Ultear would do so not because of Erza, but because it would keep Jellal from messing up Master Hades' plans. She only said that to try and ingratiate herself further with the increasingly interesting golden haired boy.

Once Erza had returned and polished off far more cake than Naruto thought healthy, a slight change occurred between Ultear and Naruto. Where before when she flirted or tried to fluster him with small physical contact he would play it off as her joking around. He'd crack jokes of his own and pretend not to notice her intentions.

Now he just let her do it. He didn't shy away from the light amount of affection she showed but he didn't return it either.

To Erza though, this was a huge step. She didn't stare wide eyed at the change between the two only for fear of ruining it. She did however flash Ultear an approving grin when Naruto wasn't looking.

Once their meal was done and paid for the trio prepared to say their goodbyes. "Do stop by more often Naruto, Erza, it's nice to see my friends." She emphasized friends to solidify in Naruto's mind that she would look after Erza and to remind him to pop by more often.

Erza bowed slightly, "Our apologies Ultear-san, but Naruto-aniki is really lazy sometimes. It's a chore getting him to do more than train, eat and sleep. I'll try and get him to visit more though." It would also serve the purpose of pushing them together, though she didn't mention that fact.

Naruto quietly grumbled at how he had a lot of pushy women in his life but he too promised to stop by more often. Before he and Erza could walk away though, Ultear stepped forward and kissed him on the cheek. Her lips lingered a second longer than strictly necessary.

She stepped back and smiled once she saw the red rise in his cheeks. It was the first time she'd managed to get him so flustered. "That's so you don't go back on your word Naruto." She winked and giggled lightly as he shot her an annoyed glare.

Erza grinned at the new ammo to tease Naruto with and started to pull him along. "Let's go nii-san. I'm tired and just because you're irresponsible doesn't mean I'll let you keep Ultear-san here all night and make her late for work tomorrow."

"Hey! You're supposed to respect your elders. Don't say things like that about me." Naruto exclaimed indignantly.

They exchanged their goodbyes and each walked to their separate destinations.

Naruto and Erza to an inn for the night, as it was too late to make it back to Magnolia before nightfall. Ultear back to her apartment to sleep after an interesting day.

As she walked away from them she worked hard to convince herself that the reason she was feeling so giddy was because her plans were one step closer to fruition. If she could somehow secure some sort of influence over Naruto her dreams would be closer.

She desperately tried to convince herself that the butterflies in her stomach weren't anything romantic. That she enjoyed making Naruto blush not because she liked his smile but because of the power it granted her over him.

Yet try as she might the little voice at the back of her head wouldn't stop telling her to quit fooling herself. Oh well, that was a worry for another day. For now, she had other things to do.

* * *

_x781 March_

"Again." Naruto's stern voice commanded.

"Aw come on Naruto. Just fight me! That'll make me way stronger than this." Natsu complained.

Naruto rolled his eyes and pointed at the lake he assigned Natsu to run laps around. "It's either this or I tell Lisanna you and Happy skipped out on shopping with her to go fishing."

Shooting the blonde a look of betrayal Natsu started running his laps again. He didn't like the boring training Naruto put him through but at least the blonde did help him get stronger.

Everyone else just brushed him off or laughed when he asked them to fight. Only Naruto either took him up on the offer or convinced him to do something else to make him stronger. He always reminded Natsu that he was the one determined to grow strong enough that he'd find Igneel and demand answers for why he left.

'**You still training that boy? Why don't you just make a clone and leave it here while you work on our problem?'**Kurama grumbled having just woken from a nap.

"Again!" Naruto barked as Natsu finished a lap. _'It's not gonna get done any faster than I'm already working on it fuzz face. I hit a road block and I'm hoping that by the time Erza-chan gets back I'll be over it.'_

'**Chibi-Kushina is helping you on this? Well at least someone competent is. Thank Kami.'**

'_Oh screw you you overgrown plushy! I'm getting plenty done. It's not exactly easy to break a deal with the Shinigami and release you without me dying too.'_ Naruto yelled back without any real anger in his tone.

'**Well maybe you're not as pathetic as I though. Any deal with the Shinigami is something to take seriously and handle carefully. Wake me up when we can start training on my magic again.'**

Naruto didn't bother to reply and just let the giant chakra fox sleep. Of course the stupid fur ball had to rub it in his face again that he could do magic while Naruto can't.

As Natsu staggered over to the tree Naruto was under he collapsed when he reached the shade. "That. Was. Crazy Naruto!" Natsu panted out between breaths.

A wicked grin on his face Naruto simply unsealed a bottle of water and handed it over. In hindsight maybe making Natsu sprint laps around the lake with a boulder on his back and a shock seal on his chest wasn't the best idea.

It sure was funny though. If he slowed down, Naruto would shock him.

"Don't complain Natsu. It'll make you faster. Which is exactly what you need with that fighting style of yours." Naruto said as he watched the pink haired mage gulp down the water.

They both sat in silence after Natsu finished his water, enjoying the shade and cool breeze.

Not one to sit still for long it was Natsu who broke the quiet. "Thanks Naruto. For, you know, helping me train and not making fun of me." He sheepishly confessed.

Naruto only smiled and ruffled his hair. Natsu was showing a rare side of him, a grateful and heartfelt side to express his thanks. Not many took Natsu too seriously, especially since he was always so chipper and wild but Naruto did.

The young mage reminded Naruto a lot of himself in his younger days. Not in that he craved attention and did anything possible to get it, but in his determination come hell or high water to achieve his dream.

So while others laughed and most didn't even believe in dragons, Naruto took Natsu seriously and helped him where and when he could. Sometimes even giving him money and passing along vague rumors of dragons.

It was the least he could do, not laugh at someone else's dreams.

"Where's Erza?" Natsu asked, grateful that Naruto didn't make a big deal of his thanks or tease him like others would.

The blonde scratched his chin in thought. "She's still on that S-Class mission I think. Said something about not babying her anymore so she took it alone."

Natsu nodded. "Oh alright. Well when are we going home then? Nothing even got destroyed on this job so how come we haven't left already?"

"Natsu?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up." The pink haired boy pouted but did listen. It wasn't often he could go on jobs with Naruto, so he didn't want to make him angry and be left behind on the next one.

The duo sat in silence for another half hour. All the while Natsu fidgeted and did his best not to annoy Naruto. They weren't in Magnolia so Natsu couldn't just wander off or he'd get lost.

Natsu squinted suspiciously at the older blonde. "Wait a minute. We're not just waiting on you to buy some pervy books for the Master are we? I wanna go home Naruto! And I don't want Lisanna and Erza to yell at me again for doing that since they can't yell at you."

Naruto snickered as he remembered the last time he sent Natsu to buy a book like that. Makarov had asked him to pick up a package for him in the town his job was at.

Since it was an easy job he took Natsu along. Once it was finished he sent Natsu to pick up the book too as he was too lazy to do it himself.

Little did he know that Natsu would open the book and when he couldn't understand what was going on he asked Lisanna and Erza to explain it once back in Magnolia.

Naruto barely escaped a beating that day by blaming it entirely on Natsu and Makarov.

Natsu wasn't so lucky. There was no scapegoat for him to pass the blame off on.

It had been extremely funny seeing Erza drag Natsu off to find someone to give him 'the talk'. One of the finest memories of Naruto's life after he saw him come back from that.

"We're waiting for someone. It's a member from one of the smaller guilds around. I asked her Master to loan me a few books and she's delivering them to me here. They're about magic and not pervy." Naruto explained lazily, no indication of getting up and doing anything more.

Natsu frowned at the answer. "Well who is it? And how long do we have to wait?"

Lazily Naruto tilted his head to the right and nodded in that direction. "Here she comes now. I thought you'd like to meet her. She's a _Doragon Sureiyā (Dragon Slayer)_ just like you."

Eyes wide in astonishment Natsu jumped to his feet and was about to take off to greet a fellow Dragon Slayer. Maybe she had news about Igneel?

Naruto grabbed a hold of his shirt and forced him back down before he could get far. "Don't scare her Natsu." His voice while calm was also markedly serious, "She's very shy and I want you to be nice to her alright?"

Natsu looked confused and then a huge smile spread across his features. "Don't worry Naruto! She's a Dragon Slayer just like me. I'll treat her great."

Shaking his head since he believed the young mage entirely missed his point he just waited for the girl to arrive. Wendy Marvell, the Dragon Slayer who wielded _Ten no Metsuryū Mahō (Sky Dragon Slayer Magic)_.

She was young; maybe 9 years old at most, had blue hair a little past her shoulders with bangs framing her face. Her eyes were a chocolate brown color and she wore a nervous smile. Normally she traveled with a talking cat just like Natsu but she didn't have her today.

Just as well, Naruto didn't really like cats. Memories of his genin days and chasing Tora flickering through his head.

Once Wendy reached the two members of Fairy Tail she stopped and bowed to greet them. "H-Hello again Naruto-san. I have the books Master Roubaul promised you. He d-did say that you should take care of them as they are old and very fragile."

Having already met Natsu, when Naruto met Wendy for the first time he almost couldn't believe it. There was no way a girl who wielded magic as just like Natsu's could be so shy. Not if she'd been raised by a dragon just like Natsu was.

Her Master told Naruto of how shy, quiet and polite she was but hoped she could increase her confidence with more interactions outside the guild. So Naruto whenever he had to meet up or get something off Roubaul often asked for Wendy to meet him.

The books he usually asked for were on runes and other types of _Moji Mahō (Letter Magic)_. Naruto hadn't forgotten his promise to both free Kurama and search for a way back home. Fuinjutsu had similar aspects to _Moji Mahō _so he sometimes read books on them to try and get inspiration on his self assigned tasks.

He'd stumbled across the guild Cait Shelter by complete accident when he asked his spy network to look up anyone that had those types of books. The older and rarer the book, the more convinced Naruto got that it would help.

"Hello Wendy-chan!" Naruto reached over to pinch her cheeks lightly, earning himself a cute blush from the young girl. "How are you today? Oh and let me introduce my apprentice, Natsu Dragneel. He's a Dragon Slayer just like you!"

"Hey! I'm not your- ow!" He was cut off of any protest by a sharp cuff to the back of his head. Grumbling at the abuse Natsu nevertheless shook it off to introduce himself. "Hi I'm Natsu and I use _Ka no Metsuryū Mahō (Fire Dragon Slayer Magic)_. Is it true you're a Dragon Slayer too?"

Wendy let out a soft "eep!" and almost retreated within herself. She summoned her courage and introduced herself to someone that was essentially a sibling judging by the magic they learned. "I-I'm Wendy. Wendy Marvell and I use _Ten no Metsuryū Mahō (Sky Dragon Slayer Magic)_. Nice to meet you Natsu-san."

Whatever conversation occurred after that was promptly ignored by the golden haired teen. Wendy had given him three separate books on runic magic, ancient spells, and illusions.

Separate they made little to no sense in helping him solve his problem with Kurama. Together though, and reading the specific pages Roubal had marked out, Naruto started to form a basic idea of what to do.

One of the chapters explained how with layered enchantments and spells, you could in theory create or switch a person's alignment. Their core beliefs. This was interesting to Naruto as it suspiciously sounded a lot like Shisui Uchiha's _Kotoamatsukami (Distinguished Heavenly Gods)_.

Which brought up a very intriguing point for Naruto. If it was possible to recreate one technique exclusively of the Mangekyou Sharingan, then perhaps he could recreate another. To be more precise, perhaps he could recreate _Kamui (Authority of the Gods). _If he did that then perhaps he could even reproduce the accident that got him to Earthland and go back.

Going one step further, if in theory it all worked out, he could quite possibly locate Sasuke finally. From there anything was possible as he might be able to travel freely between Konoha and Fiore whenever he wanted.

Of course this was all in theory and he was getting far ahead of himself. He didn't even know if it was possible yet theoretically let alone in practice.

He looked up when he heard a startled yell come from Wendy. It seemed that Natsu, always full of energy, had decided to show off some of his magic to Wendy. Probably to prove that they were both Dragon Slayers and to befriend her easier.

Unfortunately the thickheaded kid had gone overboard with one of the spells he used to blow a tree to smithereens and got injured in the backlash. Wendy was fussing over him and trying to heal him with her magic.

"Whoa… Wendy you're awesome!" Natsu yelled in jubilation. He got to his feet and patted himself down in awe, injuries already healed by Wendy. "We're definitely friends now Wendy! Come on I'll show you this cool trick Naruto taught me."

Wendy only squeaked in surprise when Natsu grabbed her by the arm and dragged her over to the lake to show her another spell. She didn't protest as Natsu grew increasingly excited and tried to cajole her into showing him some more of her magic.

Naruto watched over them and looked on in approval at the effect Natsu was already having on her. She was still enormously shy and quiet but was now able to meet Natsu's eyes when they talked. Baby steps. No one could expect her to change overnight after all.

'**How come you're so fond of the pink haired brat?' **There weren't many that Kurama noticed Naruto went out of his way to talk to, Natsu was one of them though.

Oh he was never rude or impolite when talking to people, but that didn't mean he liked talking to them either. Often he'd ignore everyone but a very sparse few that interested him. So the strongest of the Bijuu was curious to find out the reasons Natsu caught his container's eye.

'_Don't you think that there's something familiar about him? Something that reminds you of someone else?'_

Kurama snorted. **'I don't have time to play guessing games. I know you don't mean that he's a bigger idiot than you were at his age so what are you talking about?'**

Naruto grinned but kept reading his book and talking to Kurama. _'Dragon Slayers. A lost magic not seen in eons according to the history books. And yet there are rumors of three and maybe more Dragon Slayers popping up recently. All wield a terribly strong power if Natsu's any indication.'_

The stories tall nine-tailed fox was many things, but stupid not one of them. Angry? Yes. Powerful? Without a doubt. But not stupid. **'You can't compare Dragon Slayers to the jinchuuriki of your world Naruto. They're situations are totally different. That would make my brethren similar to dragons.'**

Naruto shrugged but kept pressing the issue. _'We both read the history of this world Kurama. Dragons are supposed to appear only in times of a great change coming to the world. They are the heralds of the storms of change. I'm sure most of it is myth considering dragons were plentiful hundreds of years ago, but didn't the bijuu have similar myths in the shinobi world? About how they appeared only in places of concentrated malice to wipe out the wicked and keep the balance.'_

'**So you wish to help this boy on the small chance he'll be needed in the future. Just like the jinchuuriki were needed in our own world.'** The situations still didn't match up in Kurama's opinion but he couldn't exactly stop Naruto from doing what he wanted.

'_Yeah.'_

Natsu successfully completed the spell he wanted to show Wendy and somehow convinced her to give him a high five. He was jumping around in joy and she had a small smile on her face.

'_Well that and the kid makes me laugh. It's good to see him interact with others that are just like him. Kami knows I would have loved to meet my fellow jinchuuriki when I was a kid.'_

A light breeze ruffled Naruto's hair and he quietly shut the books before sealing them away. He slowly got to his feet and made clone but with a few extra hand seals of his modification.

Once the smoke cleared the clone looked to Naruto in confusion. There were small differences between the two. Most noticeable were the whisker marks on the cheeks and slitted eyes. **"Are we training now brat? I thought you wanted to wait till chibi-Kushina returned before you tried modifying this clone to hold more of my power?"**

Naruto shook his head and pointed at the two young mages who were now playing in the water. "Something came up. Watch over them for me. You're plenty powerful as you are and if you need more power I'll be nearby for a refill."

Kurama caught the sharp glint in Naruto's eye and understood the hidden request. **"Don't take too long brat. I don't like kids."**

Naruto watched his tenant leave and walk over to the young wizards. The modified _Kage Bunshin_ the most recent attempt at releasing Kurama from the seal without killing Naruto. If only to stretch the giant fox's legs for a bit at least.

It had taken a little under two years of effort to tweak the _Hakke no Fūin Shiki _and allow a sliver of Kurama's power out into a clone and let Kurama act independently. The results were worth it for the moment and appreciated by the fox, even if he would never say it out loud.

Naruto walked away and into the woods by the lake until it was no longer in view. He stopped and looked around, deeming the place satisfactory for his needs. Not too much space and not too little. Plenty of distance from here to Natsu and Wendy.

"You can come out now. I don't know why you've been spying on us but if you're after me then come out. I want to know what I did to draw your attention." Naruto heard a twig snap to his left and so was slightly surprised when a person appeared to his right.

"Impressive. The rumors of your skill are not exaggerated Tempest of Fairy Tail." The unnamed person remarked mildly.

Naruto looked the person over to see if he could identify him.

Nothing came to mind though as the person's face was hidden behind a white mask with black eyeholes and red lines curving upwards above the eyes. He was wearing a dark gray hooded cloak, fastened just below the collar and that hid most of his body. Only gray trousers and boots were seen under the cloak.

"My name is Chase of Carbuncle. It's pointless to hide who I am as I'm sure you were close to figuring out anyways." Naruto sweatdropped as he had absolutely no idea who the guy was prior to him talking. "I was hired to convince the little girl Wendy to join another guild and take any and all belongings she had with her. Defeating the famed Tempest of Fairy Tail is only a bonus."

Naruto grinned as he cracked his knuckles. "I'm lucky you're too dumb to wait until I left to attack Wendy. You weak mages think that beating me is going to be so easy. You're like the 10th person to think that about me."

Chase crouched low as he prepared to attack. "For insulting me I'll make sure to make this defeat extra painful."

Hair covered his eyes and left them in shadow, a wide and vicious grin on his face only served to make Naruto even more intimidating. "Heh, bring it."

* * *

**a/n **Not exactly happy with the chapter but then again I did release it a lot faster than planned. The action will get started again next chapter and soon after I'll get into the canon events everyone wants to see. I did say I would start changing things, they won't be massive changes that render everything unrecognizable but they'll be enough to keep things interesting.

As always, leave all questions, concerns or comments on your way out. I'll respond accordingly.


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